Hey gang,
I have a 99 vn800 that ran great when I parked it a month ago. Went to change oil and wanted to warm the motor up and it won't start. BOTH oil and cooling warning lights. Battery seems to be charged, battery, and solenoid terminals and cables removed and cleaned. When I hit the starter switch the solenoid clicks and nothing happens. Any input is appreciated.
Try hitting the starter with a hammer. That's what I used to do with my old chevys when the starter was going out.
Also you could short out the solenoid on the old fords and the starter would turn over. Something to try before spending some cash on new parts.
The battery is bad. Leave the hammer in your tool box!
Also, cause no shorts in the bike...it has a computer and any solenoid jumpering may put it at risk.
Battery charger said charged to 100%, i cleaned the battery the cables and the solenoid. I did NOT clean the ground to frame or the starter connection it self. I won't wack the starter, ALOT of the newer starters have a ceramic type casing and wacking it will break it and ruin the starter! thanks for the input guys i will pull the battery and take it to get tested.
Sounds like a bad battery. Had the same problem when I purchased my vulcan last year. Just had to buy a new battery for it. The charger might say the battery is charged up but its not going to tell you if the battery is bad.
Ok so I pulled the battery and took it to auto Zone nad had it tested. They said it was bad. I am going to go work on the bike today. Anyone have any objections or thoughts about me putting the old battery in and jumping it with my truck? DON't really want to buy a battery until it gets closer to spring.
Is it likely that i will hurt anything? I don't have a ton of experience with working on motorcycles. I am not worried about the battery, it's already bad... THANKS
If you jump it from your truck do so without the truck running. Ugly things happen to the rectifier circuit on bikes when you use a running car/truck to jump from. With it shut off the voltage potential is at 13.8 volts and will do no harm unless you crank excessively.
When you replace the battery find a maintenance free AGM type battery, for todays batteries they are tops in motorcycling
Just remember, if you stall on your way to or from wherever you're going...you'll have problems. If the battery is dead, it wont turn over EVER, unless you jump it with another battery. You could pop start it, but that's a lot of weight to be pushing. I would buy a battery before attempting to ride it.
Especially if it's not turning over the engine, usually a battery charger that says charged 100% when you first connect it to the battery, the battery is probably dead. It should show gradual increase, for example, if it says 25% at first and takes a few hours to get to 100%, that's a healthy battery that just needed a charge.
I will DEFINITELY buy a battery before i ride it. I want to change the oil and just let it run for a bit. I'm not going anywhere on it except maybe down the street and back....Thanks for the info guys.
STILL won't start with NEW sealed battery that sat on charger all night before installation. It still just clicks. I tested the pickup coil and it tests good.... please tell me where to check next THANKS, Also i checked ALL of the fuses. all test good. used multi meter... WHAT is the starter relay supposed to test like? a new one from the stealership is $77... checked all the grounds, have 12v to the starter. checked the switches.
What does anyone think about pulling the starter out, with the wires connected, and pushing the start button. Aside from a smack on the side that is what I used to check to see if the starter was a goner. Sometimes they are just too worn out to turn the motor over.
ok guys really need as much info as i can get! going over to work on the bike later today. please give me as much info as you can. I don't have much time today and limited access to internet while there. thanks gang
Use a multi meter to check the current going to the starter. Some website I just checked says 85amps for a typical import and 2x that for an HD. If you have the current then I'd replace the starter. To measure current the meter needs to be replace inline of the circuit.
Do not put a regular multimeter in series with the starter. It will either blow the meter or the meter fuse...one of the two.
1. Probe yellow/red wire on starter solenoid, push start button and check for 12v. If yes, then go to step 2. If no, then go to step 3.
2. Probe starter side of heavy cables connected to solenoid. Push start button and check for 12v. If no, then solenoid is bad.
3. Go to fuse box, probe yellow/red wire. Push start button and check for 12v. If no, then
4. On fuse box, probe black/red, push start button and check for 12v. if yes, then
5. Remove positive battery cable. On fuse box, with meter set to read resistance, put red meter lead on yellow/green wire and black to ground. Note resistance reading. Now, swap red for black leads and take another reading.
Jimartina.... Listen to the poster Sfair. He can fix it, you just need to do what he says...In the order that he says. Even if you dont think it has relevance....FOLLOW his instruction...And post back with your results. He WILL point you to the problem part. Trust me on this! If ever I have a prob. Then I would only hope he would favor me with a response. He is a busy man.
Jumping is not a problem, it's when you remove the jumper source. Now your charging circuit is running all out, trying to charge the battery and keep the bike going. Long term unnecessary stress the electronics might not like. Then you are down the street a few miles, the bike stalls, now you are looking at pushing the bike home. If you can swing it, bite the bullet, buy a battery.
sfair, will jumping a bike damage it? Maybe because of the difference in current sinking from a higher power alternator to a lower one?
It is a good thing you caught my comment about measuring the current to the starter on the bike in an earlier post, I was trying to think of the most straight forward way to troubleshoot but didn't give a thought to how high the current was.
If done correctly, it presents no problem, but I have helped so many who have crossed the cables (and it is easy to do) with not so pretty results, that I do not recommend it.
My bike is a pleasure vehicle and if it is in a state that it needs boosting to run, then something is amiss and the problem is rectified. Excepting the above two reasons, there is really no need to do otherwise.
If your battery is fully charged then look for the "Solenoid" Bridge the two poles (two nuts that have wires on from the battery) with a a screwdriver and the starter should engage.
A person can accomplish the same test with a meter and without the sparks flying around.
If one still wishes to perform this action, be sure and wear eye protection!!!
OK thanks for all the input. I got 8.2v from the yellow red wire, at the relay. I got 8.4v from the yellow red at the fuse box. I got 9.4v from the black red at the fuse box. SINCE i wasn't getting the required 12v anywhere, I jumped the relay at the bike turned over. SO I need a new relay.... thanks again GANG all the input...
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