Welp, It Happened…Bike No Start While Out

[Jay]

What do you mean by no start? Does nothing happen at all when you press the starter button, like the switch has been disconnected, or does it click and the dash go out momentarily but the starter motor doesn't turn, or something else?

All the dash lights on (really just the TFT), tail light, fuel pump whine, and push the start switch but no start. Like no power to the starter. No click and no flicker of the lights.

I called the dealer today to check on the diagnosis and the tech says it is starting no issues. They have tried to recreate what we saw on Saturday, but the bike has started without fail. So it is baffling the tech who helped me troubleshoot the bike on Saturday when it wouldn’t start. Maybe a temp sensor, but it doesn’t sound like they have run the scanner. Will check with them again on Saturday and either they have found an issue or I will bring it home.

 

[Gimlet]

All the dash lights on (really just the TFT), tail light, fuel pump whine, and push the start switch but no start. Like no power to the starter. No click and no flicker of the lights.

I called the dealer today to check on the diagnosis and the tech says it is starting no issues. They have tried to recreate what we saw on Saturday, but the bike has started without fail. So it is baffling the tech who helped me troubleshoot the bike on Saturday when it wouldn’t start. Maybe a temp sensor, but it doesn’t sound like they have run the scanner. Will check with them again on Saturday and either they have found an issue or I will bring it home.

Sounds like an intermittent wiring fault.

 

[Jagster]

........dodgy starter relay keeps popping into my thoughts.............but i'm strange like that

Would a diagnostics tool pick that up and log it specifically, if it was a dodgy relay? I've never used a fancy new diagnostics tool.

On a slightly different track.......similar to Gimlet's thinking.......Has any of the wiring been touched prior to the first time this problem showed up?

 

[Gimlet]

........dodgy starter relay keeps popping into my thoughts.............but i'm strange like that

Would a diagnostics tool pick that up and log it specifically, if it was a dodgy relay? I've never used a fancy new diagnostics tool.

On a slightly different track.......similar to Gimlet's thinking.......Has any of the wiring been touched prior to the first time this problem showed up?

I doubt it. I think it would have to eliminated by a specific test. Main dealers aren't necessarily the best people to do this. If it isn't on their manufacturers software, their known faults or recalls checklist or the service schedule they're not always very good at going off-piste and finding these problems. That's certainly been my experience with cars. I'd probably get a good independent auto-electrician to look at it. Ideally a specialist bike electrician.

 

[Einar]

This is the exact set of symptoms you get when the kickstand is down in gear and/or the clutch isn't pulled in. Could it be either (or both) of those? Not saying these weren't done, but maybe one of those sensors is having an issue?

 

[TURBO200R4]

Just thought I would say a few words
It is impossible to tell what the problem is when it is working good.
It seems to me that everything is working good except for safetys and starter relay.
I would say replace the starter relay.
Now instead of being stuck somewhere I would rig up a starter button a wire from positive battery to push switch to starter solenoid that way you can bypass all the safetys till you can figure out the problem. Be careful because if it is in gear it will take off with out you.
Hth

 

[Jay]

........dodgy starter relay keeps popping into my thoughts.............but i'm strange like that

Would a diagnostics tool pick that up and log it specifically, if it was a dodgy relay? I've never used a fancy new diagnostics tool.

On a slightly different track.......similar to Gimlet's thinking.......Has any of the wiring been touched prior to the first time this problem showed up?

No wiring mods on the bike. I did put taller risers and u coiled a bit of wire under the front cover, but nothing that would cause issues to the wires. Will continue the hunt.

 

[Jay]

This is the exact set of symptoms you get when the kickstand is down in gear and/or the clutch isn't pulled in. Could it be either (or both) of those? Not saying these weren't done, but maybe one of those sensors is having an issue?

Did try this, but all good thoughts. Thanks to others with similar experiences, I knew to try a few combinations of these . I was hoping a scan tool might find an intermittent issue. Will talk with the dealer tomorrow.

 

[Jay]

Just thought I would say a few words
It is impossible to tell what the problem is when it is working good.
It seems to me that everything is working good except for safetys and starter relay.
I would say replace the starter relay.
Now instead of being stuck somewhere I would rig up a starter button a wire from positive battery to push switch to starter solenoid that way you can bypass all the safetys till you can figure out the problem. Be careful because if it is in gear it will take off with out you.
Hth

Good call on the starter relay bypass. Since I had to bump start tne bike a couple times, I might try this to see if viable on this bike and carry spare leads. Easy enough with the starter accessible on the left side.

 

[Gimlet]

Now instead of being stuck somewhere I would rig up a starter button a wire from positive battery to push switch to starter solenoid that way you can bypass all the safetys till you can figure out the problem. Be careful because if it is in gear it will take off with out you.
Hth

Good advice. Reminds me of a time when I saw some old bloke in Weymouth harbour trying to fix a non-starting Seagull outboard on the back of a little rowing boat. He'd jumped into the water to get a better view of the carburetter and was fiddling with a screwdriver with tiller locked to one side to give him access. It must have been an old Seagull which had no clutch: once the engine is running, off it goes. He pulled the starter cord, it fired and the boat took off, and there he was, standing up to his chest in water with an unmanned boat charging round him in circle while his wife shouted at him from the quayside. Presumably he just had to stand there until it ran out of petrol.