South West Bikers | Motorcycle Forum

Hey.

Went to start my bike this morning after leaving it outside covered for 2 weeks and nothing. Tried the battery for a few hours on a charger and using jump leads of another bike but nothing. Popped into local garage and they gave me something they just made up to check the battery and it was fine.

Just brought it into the house to warm it up.

Any ideas?

Stu.

Any more info other than "Nothing" Stu...?

Might help pinpoint the possibilities if it's;

Nothing - no ignition light

Nothing - no starter

Nothing - not firing

Sort of thing

Turn the key - no ignition lights, no starter, no firing sounds.

What was it that you used to check the battery? Ideally you'd use a multi-meter to see how much voltage is actually in it, but I'd be surprised if the local garage just managed to make one of those up. If the battery is OK, you'll have to start a process of elimination, beginning at the battery terminals - are they clean and tight? Is there continuity between the -ve terminal and the chassis? Next I guess at the ignition switch - unplug it and do a continuity check across the pins when you turn the key on, and check the +ve feed from the battery to the plug, then from the plug to the fuse box - are all the fuses good and the contacts clean? Can you get 12V from the direct feed to the starter solenoid to earth?
To have absolutely nothing at all would normally point to either a dead battery (maybe one or two cells have given up after the cold weather) or a poor connection.
Hope this helps

i'd say dead battery. After being outside for 2 weeks in the coldest weather for years i would be dead too.

connect your bikes battery to your car battery, turn on ignition - if you have lights you would appear to be in the right direction.

Then try doing a jump start off the car, if that works you know engine is ok. if when you disconnect the jump leads the bike dies, it's the battery, wave good bye to £50 then

Must be the week for it, bike broke down on the way to work today, spent two hrs playing with the electrics and thought I'd got the prob sorted, eg. cleaning the shit out of the live terminal and switch and she fired and ran really well. Then riding home sodding thing broke down same problem, finally traced it to the ignition switch ( hopefully), checking it out on Monday!

you left you bike outside for two weeks...

yeah, try to use it all year round but mother wouldnt let me out to play in the snow....

Problem solved - starter solenoid fuse had sizzled

Thanks for the help.

Funky wrote:you left you bike outside for two weeks...

Leroy's and mine have been outside all year long.

Go out and start them both once a month or so.

His wouldn't start last week but fired first time with a jump from mine.

ok,

Coming home from work and both front lights go out - main and full beam. Side lights stay on and all other lights continue to work. Pull upto the house and start to smell rotten eggs..

What could this be??

I made a call to a mate and he said that the battery might be cooking itself.

This is on a 675 triumph if that helps.

think thats standard operating proceedure on a 675

check the headlight fuse is correct rating - replace it. stick a multimeter over the battery terminals and rev the bike to it's charging rate (normally aboyt 5000 rpm, check your manual though) see what you are geting, it should be about 14-15 volts, if it's more, it looks like voltage regulator may have decided to give up.

smell of eggs could be the insulation in the loom cooking


check the charging rate tho, good place to start

rotten eggs could point to the battery eating itself.
if the voltage reg has given up the ghost it could be over charging the battery and maybe causing fuses to blow.