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clicking when starting.

3K views 15 replies 8 participants last post by  skalding 
#1 ·
my bike has been great for the past few months. today... went to work and when i got out, tried to start it, and it just clicked.

i have a voltmeter permanently attached and i know the charging system is fine... i get at least 14.5 volts around 5-6K RPM.

i'll make sure the battery wires are attached firmly at both ends tomorrow, but what are some other possible causes of this phenomenon? the battery is not old... maybe a year... and i ride often.

could be a bad battery? could be the solenoid? starter? what's the most likely cause?

bike has 45K miles on it.

thanks!
 
#2 ·
My experience is that clicking is a battery with no charge in it.
Or it could be poor connections.
Jumper cables from your car can determine that. If it starts with a jump then you need to find out why the year-old battery is draining.
If it's a wet-cell battery, could be low fluid level in the battery. If so, get one of the sealed glass-mat batteries these guys on this site keep talking about.
 
#3 ·
If you still have 12 to 12.5 volts before trying to start, I would say the battery is probably ok, and you probably have a poor ground. Remove bolt from battery cable to the frame on the left side, and from cable on frame`s right side down to the back of the engine. Clean all 3 areas off with a piece of emery cloth or sandpaper, and put a little dielectric grease on the connector and bolt threads when reassembling, to keep the moisture out and corrosion away. Also check and apply dielectric grease to the connections on the battery terminals.

With the key turned on, if it still doesn`t start, but the solenoid/relay is clicking, try using a heavy guage wire or jumper cable to jump the contacts on the solenoid. Alternately you can try to jump it directly from the positive battery post down to the starter connection post. Ground the battery negitive post to the frame too with the other jumper cable, just for good measure.

You can also try boosting the battery with a car.

Try this and let us know how it works out. If it is still a no start proposition, we will go from there.
 
#4 ·
if it is a dead battery i wouldn't recommend charging a battery completely with our charging system its a lot of pull on our already weak charging system... put the batt on a charger for a few hours and load test it... (most parts places will test for free )

most wetcells last for 1 year and water need to be checked every month _____... if its questionable or bad or i recomend just because get an AGM batt...
 
#5 ·
thanks for the responses, gentlemen.

well, not sure what to say. went out this afternoon and the bike started right up. no choke... hit the starter button... fired right up. it was warm today, so maybe that helped things.

i rode about 50 miles today and the charging system was fine... 14-5-15V.

so... i'm not sure. guess last night was a fluke? maybe the battery is going bad? i do have a mf battery... maybe it's time to get a new one.

anyway... if anyone has other ideas, let me know. my main concern is getting stuck somewhere... never a fun thing.
 
#6 ·
just run down and get the batt tested it could give u a lot of piece of mind...
by chance when u parked it did u lock the handle bars in the P position (leavin the parking llights on ) maybe check the connections in the ignition make sure its clickin all the way off..
 
#7 ·
If your battery is good, I'm willing to bet you've got some crud on the starter motor and it needs to be cleaned up, especially the electrical contacts. Clean them up good and apply some dielectric grease to the contacts before reconnecting.
 
#8 ·
Hey Paul, I think you probably have some bad connections somewhere, maybe a dirty ground, or even a burned spot on the starter like was suggested before. I'd never consider it a fluke. If it happened once, it will happen again til you find the culprit!
 
#10 ·
Hey Paul, can you describe exactly what happened this time? Was the starter clicking again? Can you get a battery reading from a voltmeter now? Let's figure this thing out for you.
 
#11 ·
so, two nights ago, i was leaving work... came out... tried starting the bike and the starter was barely turning the engine over. the engine would turn maybe once and then i'd hear the rapid clicking. when the engine *would* turn that one time, the voltmeter showed around 9V. i got the bike started by having a friend push me and then i dropped into first and it fired right up.

today, i was in the turning lane waiting for the light to turn green... idling... and the bike just stopped. same thing... tried starting it and maybe one turn of the engine and then rapid clicking... voltmeter read around 8V or so when it would turn the engine.

i put the bike in neutral, waited for the light to turn green, and then pushed/ran the bike through the intersection with traffic behind me. ha. what a sight. managed to get the bike into a gas station, sat for a few minutes, and then recruited some poor guy to try pushing me... this time, no go. had to wait for my roommate to get home to help me out. we jumped it with cables and the bike started up immediately.

i think it's the battery at this point. i have the voltmeter wired to the accessory leads off the headlight and driving home from the convenience store, the reading was 14.5V.

thanks for the support everyone.
 
#14 ·
so, two nights ago, i was leaving work... came out... tried starting the bike and the starter was barely turning the engine over. the engine would turn maybe once and then i'd hear the rapid clicking. when the engine *would* turn that one time, the voltmeter showed around 9V. i got the bike started by having a friend push me and then i dropped into first and it fired right up.

today, i was in the turning lane waiting for the light to turn green... idling... and the bike just stopped. same thing... tried starting it and maybe one turn of the engine and then rapid clicking... voltmeter read around 8V or so when it would turn the engine.

i put the bike in neutral, waited for the light to turn green, and then pushed/ran the bike through the intersection with traffic behind me. ha. what a sight. managed to get the bike into a gas station, sat for a few minutes, and then recruited some poor guy to try pushing me... this time, no go. had to wait for my roommate to get home to help me out. we jumped it with cables and the bike started up immediately.

i think it's the battery at this point. i have the voltmeter wired to the accessory leads off the headlight and driving home from the convenience store, the reading was 14.5V.

thanks for the support everyone.
I made a set of jumper cables to carry on the bike for situations just like this. There is usually someone around who is willing to give a boost, but they don`t have any cables.

Mine are made with 10' of 16 gauge black lamp cord. (I would have prefered 14 ga, but couldn`t find any at Home Hardware.)
two sets of 3" long battery charger clamps,
and 3 inches of heat shrink tubing around both leads, about 6 inches from either end, to keep the leads from separating any further back. Total cost was about $6. Time to build was about half an hour. I could do it again in half the time.

If you have a suitable extension cord with a broken plug, use it, and all you need to buy is the clamps, (mine were 99 cents/pair on sale) and 6 inches of heat shrink tubing, ( I already had some).

It weighs about a pound, coils up to 4 1/2 inches in diameter and 2 inches thick, and is small enough to fit in sandwich zip-lock bag about 6 inches square, and go almost un-noticed in a jacket pocket or saddlebag.

I don`t go anywhere without at least some tools and jumper cables in my car, truck or bike.
 
#12 ·
14.5 volts while running sounds like the charging system is working... sounds like a dead cel in the battery...
if the starter is grounding out it could drain the batt to 9 volts quickly... but a good batt will recover after a short load... with that volt meter whats the reading of voltage while the starter is turning???

on your way home did that volt meter spike ?

i reallyt do think its the batt when u get a new one have them load test this one...
 
#13 ·
#16 ·
Sounds like the battery, but clean the terminal on the outside of the starter motor just to be sure. Mine was finger tight and I'd get the same solenoid clicking effect with no start. It wasn't until I cleaned it and bolted it down snug that the starting problem went away.
 
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