Problem starting bike

[soliman]

Hey,

I am new to this forum, but I have been having some trouble with my bike recently. I own a 2012 Kawasaki Ninja 250R.

When I attempt to start the bike, I get a clicking noise but it won't ignite. The tail light flickers and occasionally goes out when I try to start the bike. Sometimes the light will remain off and the clicking will stop and pressing the ignition switch will do nothing.

I thought the issue was the fuel relay, so I ordered a new one. In the meantime i swapped out the headlight relay with the fuel relay to test if it was a solution. The bike started a few times, however I attempted to drive it to the end of the parking garage and it died again. The bike once again no longer starts. Perhaps I blew that relay out as well. I know the battery is not low, I have tested it and tried jumping it more than once, no luck.

Does anyone know what may be causing the problem, or where I should start checking things?

Thanks,
Any help is much appreciated.

[csmith12]

Welcome Abdallah!

From your description, all signs point to a dead battery, or loose battery connections. Have you checked those?

[soliman]

I checked the battery, it is fine as far as I can tell. I tested it with a multimeter and connecting a jump cable and providing some extra juice to jump it doesnt get it going. The battery appears to be fine, I suspected some loose connection somewhere in the circuit, so I started checking all of the connections but haven't been able to trace anything down so far.

My primary concern is, if the relay did in fact blow out, there must be something wrong elsewhere in the circuit causing it to blow. There is no reason two relays would blow that quickly.

[micoulisninja]

I would say what chone said but if you are for sure it's not a battery thingy...
your description reminds me of my case a few years back when I had a Honda Bros 400 and did the exact same thing you described because of a short circuited and totally burnt starter relay... kill a few batteries before I managed to find out what it was...
I am not saying this is your case for sure but if you are definite it's not a bad battery connection -which by the way is a usual suspect on 250s- then I would reccomend checking your stator too VISUALLY as well as how equally phases charge and try switching alternators with a friend's that you know is ok...
welcome aboard !!

[csmith12]

Hey Nick! Good thinkin' on the stator. In my experiences it has been about 50/50 of time it's either between the stator or rectifier.

Stator = generates power for the ignition, battery and so on.
Rectifier = Smooths out the power coming from the stator, has a high and low side. If the high side goes out (allowing too much power through), it will burn up batteries, relays and what not.

So in this case of blown relays, the rectifier would be high on my list after checking the simple stuff, loose cables, grounds, ect... ect...

Ps. Chris (aka Chone) is not me, he rides the green pregen.

[jkv45]

To check the battery you need to do 2 things - check the standing voltage before you crank (100% charged is 12.7V), and check the voltage under load. You can get a good reading when not under load, but the instant there is a load the voltage can temporarily drop to an unusable level (under 11V).

Check the voltage while cranking to confirm the battery is good.

I had a similar issue with SV650 project bike I recently picked up. It would barely crank, even with a bigger fully-charged battery. Turns out the starter relay was bad, but still working. It was getting hot and creating a bunch of resistance.

You can apply power directly to the starter with an auxiliary battery (bypassing the relay) to determine if that is the issue.

[csmith12]

Also, if you pull the cover off the stator, might as well check the pickup coil too. That little guy is directly responsible for relaying the power for a spark on startup of the bike.

[soliman]

Thanks so much for the replies. I will check those things hopefully this evening or tomorrow and let you know if it solves it. I did replace the starter relay (impulsively, i was sure it was the issue at one point) and that did not solve it. I did not think to check the stator or rectifier so will definitely take a look at those. I will also double check the voltage of the battery under load, im hoping one of these ideas will solve it.

[soliman]

So I went ahead and did a bit more diagnostics. It seems that the starter is not receiving power. I checked the voltage between the battery ground and the starter's positive terminal and I get 0V. I also checked the wire going to the starter for continuity and it seems the connection is good. So whenever I press the ignition the starter does not receive the 12V needed. The battery was also checked again and its definitely good. I will be checking the stator and rectifier as suggested once I dig up the service manual to make sure I am doing it properly. I figured I would give a quick update on my progress in case it rules anything out.

Thanks!

[jkv45]

Are you getting power at the starter relay when you hit the button?

[Skullz]

There is a plug on the starter solenoid, make sure that is pushed all the way in and not loose causing your problem, also check the fuse and make sure it hasn't blown. Ask how i know, after a 4 1/2 mile push to the nearest place with tools. rofl

Another possible problem may be a corroded ignition plug located under the tank, you will have to pull the tank to check and see how well the plug and wires look, if there are any signs of corrosion you have to cut the wires and solder them back together or use butt connectors to rejoin them.

Can't think of much else that would prevent the bike from starting if your battery is fully charged and no power is getting to the starter.

If you have a circuit tester i would pull all the fuses out of the fuse box and check each one one at a time to make sure they are all getting power, this was what led me to the plug under the tank as being the source since only 2 circuits were getting power and none of the rest were.
Just make sure you have the key in the ignition and turned to the ON position.
http://www.harborfreight.com/automot...ter-30779.html

[soliman]

It seems the starter relay is not getting power, however when I first checked this morning it was. Also half the fuse box doesn't get 12v, only the turn signal and fan do, the ignition, tail, horn, and headlights are not getting power

[Skullz]

Pull the tank and check the plug coming from the ignition switch, if any of the wires are corroded then they'll need to bypass the plug either from soldering or connectors.

Those were exactly the ones i was getting power to also.

[soliman]

Power to the ignition switch and all components that don't work such as the horn and tail lights is only 1.5v, to the fan and turn signal I get 12 and the battery is still solid 12

[Asspire]

sounds like you've got a short somewhere, check the harness around the battery for wires rubbing on the frame or any metal.

[soliman]

Sorry for the late update, its been a busy week. I ended up taking it to a mechanic to look at. Apparently some of the wires in the harness under the gas tank were corroded and worn away, which was causing the problem. Salt had built up underneath there and did some damage. Thanks so much for all your suggestions, they helped narrow down the problem significantly.

[Alex]

[micoulisninja]

Originally Posted by csmith12

Ps. Chris (aka Chone) is not me, he rides the green pregen.

sorry about that mess up !!
after that you could call me colorblind !!