weird voltage/no start issue

[thedrewski86]

So I pulled my wife's '09 out of the shed Sunday night and put the key in, turned it to ON, hit the starter button and heard a click and everything went black. Kill switch check, neutral check, sidestand check, clutch check... all good. I figured I had popped the 30 amp fuse so I rolled it back into the shed so I could look at it later. Finally got to it today suspecting I'd find a wire grounding to the frame from the aftermarket lighting... didn't see anything and I checked the 30 amp fuse and it was fine. I checked all my 10 amp fuses with my multimeter, all fine too. Followed 12.5 volts from the battery up to the ign switch on the white wire... all good. Then I started following voltage on the brown wire to the ign switch and I'm only getting 8 volts. Strange. Same 8 volts on the brown wire at the fuse block too.

Been through this:


...AND the regular wiring diagram, gonna go back through it more when I have time to check all the wires.

Oh, and I pulled ALL of the stupid LED kit from the bike to be sure. It had been run straight to the battery.
So here's a video:
http://s1147.photobucket.com/user/th...f3bd1.mp4.html

[Motofool]

Your battery may be just discharged if all the fuses are OK.
There is resistor by the ignition switch that causes the voltage drop for that brown as protection for the diodes, it is normal.

[thedrewski86]

Originally Posted by Motofool

There is resistor by the ignition switch that causes the voltage drop for that brown as protection for the diodes, it is normal.

That's a relief to know, I wasn't aware of that.
Still, hard to think it would be the battery, it's been holding 12.5-12.7ish volts for the past 3 weeks or so. I'll give it a charge anyway.

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by thedrewski86

....... Still, hard to think it would be the battery, it's been holding 12.5-12.7ish volts for the past 3 weeks or so. I'll give it a charge anyway.

If you can, check the voltage while the battery is trying to crank the engine.
If it drops below 10 volts, the battery is not good, as it cannot supply the necessary flow of Amps.

[thedrewski86]

I can throw a voltmeter on it when I hit the starter, but the starter doesn't spin (therefor no engine cranking). You're right though, that still could be the case if the battery decided to all of a sudden give up that quickly.

[thedrewski86]

Wow this was an old thread! Turned out to be a battery, wound up w/ a new Yuassa and it's back to running perfectly.

[linkinpark9812]

Originally Posted by Motofool

Your battery may be just discharged if all the fuses are OK.
There is resistor by the ignition switch that causes the voltage drop for that brown as protection for the diodes, it is normal.

Actually from what I have heard, the gray wire from the ignition with a resistor in it (which I believe is IN the ignition switch) is a "security device". If that gray wire doesn't have a certain resistance specified with the ignition module, the ignition will not fire the ignition coils. You would get a crank/no start condition. Not sure if there are any other resistors in that area.

You seem to have no crank. The starter clicking and everything going black seems to be either a bad starter (it seized or something) or you have a voltage issue, which could be a dead battery, or a connection issue. Did you make sure the + and - cable on the battery are on good, as well as to the starter?

Also, is the click coming from the 30A main fuse area (where the relay is) or the actual starter? The starter is below the 30A fuse so you might what yo put your hand on the starter to see if the click is coming from there or the relay.

If the starter/battery voltage/connection issue is having a problem, you sometimes get a rapid clicking, as there is a huge load on the system, then the voltage drops so low, and the starter disengages, and then the voltage comes back, it engages, and it happens over and over as you hold the starter button (and the clicking comes from the relay after every disengage/engage).

That is if it is REALLY dead/bad connection though. Sometimes it will engage (click) but there isn't enough of a voltage drop to disengage, but not enough to turn the engine, so it just "sits" there, with the lights off cause the voltage is probably well under 10V or so at this point.

[thedrewski86]

Good post linkin but it turned out to be a bad battery. I've definitely dealt with my share of no starts and that's all good advise. Fortunately it was a simple fix, I had just never had a battery go dead that fast.

[linkinpark9812]

Originally Posted by thedrewski86

Good post linkin but it turned out to be a bad battery. I've definitely dealt with my share of no starts and that's all good advise. Fortunately it was a simple fix, I had just never had a battery go dead that fast.

Glad to hear. Starting with the simple stuff first is always a good idea.