[USNRider]

Lately, I've noticed that sometimes when I start the ol' girl she doesn't act normal. Most of the time, she fires right up, maybe a little cranking but always less than 5 or 6 seconds and she fires up. However, on occasion she will crank over what sounds like a single crank or a half crank then stop, like a dead battery would do, I release the starter button, push it again and 99% of the time will start right up. Only once did it not start on the second push and that was while I was on a trip to DC for Rolling Thunder, talk about a oh crap moment. On the road about halfway between point A and point B and the bike doesn't want to start while your wife is sitting on the passenger seat. Thankfully, after disconnecting a cell phone charger from the bike it started right up.
I've cleaned all the switches as has been suggested on another forum and the problem came back yesterday. Unfortunately it doesn't happen often enough to troubleshoot it. Is this a possible indication the battery is on its way out? The bike is a 2007 and its the original battery.

 

[JDBRIDER]

Check & clean the battery connections and the ground near where you check the oil.
Maybe your battery is dieing.

 

[TravelinLite]

The problem you are describing can also be caused by a faulty push button starter switch.

 

[Dave R.]

Could be a number of this I suppose but my money is on the battery either going bad or neglected connections that need cleaning and or tighening. Good luck.

 

[USNRider]

Battery connections are clean and tight. I haven't dug the start switch completely out of its home, but its next on the list. The last thing I need on the Wing Ding trip is to have the bike not start at all.

 

[Ed Kruse]

Start at the beginning, check the battery with a good meter.

What voltage does the battery read on a meter after it sits for a bit?

If it is below 12.5 the battery is probably on it's way out. 12.7 or higher is a good battery.

 

[Bulldog]

Battery Time to get started.

 

[techdude2000]

The starter relays will do that when their contacts start pitting and there's been posters who found the cables loose on the relays also. These are the "A" and "B" relays mounted to the rear of the battery.

 

[USNRider]

Hm- the starter relays were mentioned a while back when I posted this on a different forum and I just forgot to look into them. How complicated is it to get to these relays? Are they in the relay bank below the seat or do you mean, literally behind the battery as in I gotta pull the guy out to take a look at them?

As far as my reasoning for not looking directly at the battery is because its hit or miss when this happens. The bike can sit for a week and start right up, then it won't start after I stop to get gas or something simple like that. Once the bike s running there are no signs of a poor charging system as far as I can tell and I've checked the battery and it reads good. As a matter of act, just to make sure I wasn't going nuts I checked the battery (bikes been sitting for the past 6 hours) and its reading 12.6 volts at the battery tender plug.

 

[techdude2000]

Looking at the bike from the left side(sidestand side) the relays are to the rear of the battery, front to back on the bike. Here is a picture of them:

The red cover in the lower left of this picture is the positive battery terminal.

 

[USNRider]

Got it, thanks for the picture. Now I know where to start dgging tomorrow when I get out of work.

 

[JohnACman]

How old is the battery? I have a Battery Bug that shows the life of a battery in % on my 06. A month ago it hit 29% and did the same thing as yours when starting. A new battery fixed that.

 

[LAW]

Are your valves adjusted right?

LAW

 

[USNRider]

Battery is 4 years old now, it was what came on the bike back in 07. I'm considering a battery bug or something similar but figured I'd peruse the venders at Wing Ding to find what I want.

Not sure what you mean with the valves although I'm guessing it was a joke of some sort.

 

[Grampawinger]

How old is the battery? I have a Battery Bug that shows the life of a battery in % on my 06. A month ago it hit 29% and did the same thing as yours when starting. A new battery fixed that.

Ditto that.....a few years ago I was tuning up my Kawasaki 1500 Vulcan in order to sell it to my son. The battery was quite old but when charged it would crank the engine with vigor but would not spark the plugs. I guess that there was not enough voltage to fire the coils and make the spark.

So offf I go to the store and get a new battery, charged it up, installed it, and the big Kaw fired up immediately.

I have an 07 Wing and my battery bug shows 67% for the last 6 starts but I have a new one on the shelf waiting for the acid to be added.


:thumbup:

 

[tulsawalk]

My thread on loose relays with pics:

http://gl1800riders.com/forums/showthread.php?t=190584