Starting issue

[Konrad]

So... the last few days I've had a problem where I go to start it and it just clicks and nothing. Turn the key off and back on and it started. Did that twice. Then today, I had to turn the key off and back on again 7 times before I got lucky and it worked. Still under warranty but as my only vehicle I'm dreading bringing it in.

Ideas? Obviously I think of the Starter relay but wanted to get some other feed back. It's ridden daily and once it turned over it was strong so I think we can eliminate the battery.

 

[Garnet]

Try cleaning the battery connections.

 

[Konrad]

Man, it's pretty new but I'll check that option out.

 

[maxwellian]

I'd guess some kind of loose connection on something that prevents starting. I'd check if the problem still happens starting in neutral. If not, I'd check the connections of the clutch switch, kickstand switch, if it still does, maybe the kill switch or something.

You could also check for loose connections on the battery, starter relay, starter etc. but those are more work to get at.

 

[Bert]

I had that recently aswell. Turned out i didn't tighten the negative pole on the battery well enough.

Also during starting i will notice it when the battery voltage is on the low side. Starts pretty hard then. If you only do short trips your battery may not be charging enough?

 

[silverhound]

+1 on the battery connection being loose.

 

[itlives]

Battery- loose or dirty connections or maybe a bad battery. Check voltage in the morning before starting. Always start in neutral so no drag from trans.

 

[wildeone]

kick start would be handy

 

[davidc83]

kick start would be handy

Wouldn't matter if it is a bad battery. Electronic fuel ignition needs a good electrical charge from the battery to run the electronic fuel pump and the electronic fuel ignition-these 2 things get charge from the battery, not the stator. no fuel from the gas tank thru the EFI into the cylinders would equal no start, no matter how much kick starting or bump starting is done.

 

[wildeone]

Wouldn't matter if it is a bad battery. Electronic fuel ignition needs a good electrical charge from the battery to run the electronic fuel pump and the electronic fuel ignition-these 2 things get charge from the battery, not the stator. no fuel from the gas tank thru the EFI into the cylinders would equal no start, no matter how much kick starting or bump starting is done.

so bike has no alternator? has to be some charger right?
so why it would not be enough to power the ignition?

 

[L.B.S.]

so bike has no alternator? has to be some charger right?
so why it would not be enough to power the ignition?

No, what he's saying is that the bike needs some variable minimum amount of electricity to prime the fuel pump and run the other electrical needs prior to it getting it's power from the charging system, that supplies this power from spinning the rotor around the stator, once the bike is actually turning.

A battery can have easily enough juice to light up all the lights, prime the pump, etc., etc., but not the big oomph it needs to turn the starter motor over.



My CBR125R with EFI can be bump started easily with a stone dead battery, if it hasn't been sitting for more than a day or so, and I've bump started my EFI CX500Turbo a few times when it had dead batteries, but it really depends on lots of factors, from one model and design of bike to another, I guess.

With some other bikes I have owned, I discovered I could run them without a battery at all. Pushing the bike fast enough during the bump start, produced enough power from the spinning rotor/stator to allow the starting process, and then once it was going, there was all the electricity needed to keep going. Not all bikes can do this though.

You can have a good battery, but it won't start, because of a loose connection, or say, a bad starter relay. You can have a battery that checks out good with more than 12 volts, and it won't start the bike, because there is an internal short or defect inside the battery. This is why "load test" is crucial to really see if a battery is ok, versus a sometimes misleading: "but I checked it with a volt meter and it was good!"

 

[Konrad]

No Bump starting on a DCT. But Everyone who guessed battery connection, GOOD JOB!!! My positive cable needed like 6 turns.

 

[silverhound]

No Bump starting on a DCT. But Everyone who guessed battery connection, GOOD JOB!!! My positive cable needed like 6 turns.

Glad it was something simple.

 

[kharli]

when I had a flat battery ,even though I was up a hill I had no confidence that I could get enough charge to prime fuel pump and let the efi do its start up thing...maybe on a low battery.
also I once got a start from a poorly charged electric fence battery ,bike started but ran roughly and the dashboard was making no sense ,it wasn't until I removed the bikes battery and charged it for a couple of hours did the bike start normally.
I would be interested if anyone has bump started this bike from a completely flat battery
Still i`m passed 40000 miles and it was only being left for three weeks in salt laden sea spray that gave it a flat battery..its all fine now but ive got a cheep battery indicator so I can keep a weekly check on it when in a no ride few weeks

 

[davidc83]

No, what he's saying is that the bike needs some variable minimum amount of electricity to prime the fuel pump and run the other electrical needs prior to it getting it's power from the charging system, that supplies this power from spinning the rotor around the stator, once the bike is actually turning.

A battery can have easily enough juice to light up all the lights, prime the pump, etc., etc., but not the big oomph it needs to turn the starter motor over.


.



My CBR125R with EFI can be bump started easily with a stone dead battery, if it hasn't been sitting for more than a day or so, and I've bump started my EFI CX500Turbo a few times when it had dead batteries, but it really depends on lots of factors, from one model and design of bike to another, I guess.

With some other bikes I have owned, I discovered I could run them without a battery at all. Pushing the bike fast enough during the bump start, produced enough power from the spinning rotor/stator to allow the starting process, and then once it was going, there was all the electricity needed to keep going. Not all bikes can do this though.

You can have a good battery, but it won't start, because of a loose connection, or say, a bad starter relay. You can have a battery that checks out good with more than 12 volts, and it won't start the bike, because there is an internal short or defect inside the battery. This is why "load test" is crucial to really see if a battery is ok, versus a sometimes misleading: "but I checked it with a volt meter and it was good!"

Motorcycles do not have alternators-they have stators. Bump starting EFI bikes depends on the make, model, how the programmers 'programed' the on-board computers, etc... My 2007 Suzuki C50 Boulevard will not bump start with a dead battery, even if there is enough juice to turn on the lights-my driveway is on top of a steep hill and I tried to bump start it once-got up to 30mph (GPS) and let clutch out in second gear and motor would turn and would not start-it was a witch pushing that 500+Lb bike back up the hill-put in new battery and bingo-no issues with starting

 

[anglachel]

I would be interested if anyone has bump started this bike from a completely flat battery

I've tried in my driveway once... Didn't get going all to fast (4-5 mph?) and I couldn't get it to turn over...

Perhaps if you managed a steeper hill faster, but I'd worry about the back tire breaking loose if you were going much faster.

I can't definitively say it's impossible, but even if it's possible it probably wouldn't be practical with out a big downhill.

 

[Petsker]

No Bump starting on a DCT. But Everyone who guessed battery connection, GOOD JOB!!! My positive cable needed like 6 turns.

Sounds like we should celebrate by going on a ride


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[PadrePoint]

Glad a few turns fixed things.
I have needed to replace the batteries on both of my 2013 NC's... as well as my 2013 CRF. Original batteries seem to be minimal... but I kind of expect that.