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Shagged battery, or something worse ?

Ritch

Ritch

Joined Oct 2007
378 Posts | 0+
West Mids
Put the bike on the optimate sunday morning for a quite a few hours and went out (the bike had been on the optimate for a few days previous). Popped round a mates house as we were off for a ride, came to start it back up, it turned over slightly then had that horrible grunching noise your get from the starter motor, tried to start it again, nothing just that clicking noise, tried again, clicking noise again. Left it for a few minutes and tried again, it struggled to go but did fire eventually. We went for blast and did about 65 miles when i had to pull in for fuel. Went to start it up after re-fueling and all i got was that clicking sound, had another go,it really struggled to start but did fire. Any ideas folks ???


Cheers,


Ritch
 
im no expert on these tempremental italin bikes ritch,but ive read about this on quite a few mille forums and despite being on an optimate,its mostly been recommended a new battery is needed.
im gunna buy one and fit it anyway as they dont seem to last long on these juice hungry beasts.
 
Ritch said:
Went to start it up after re-fueling and all i got was that clicking sound, had another go,it really struggled to start but did fire. Any ideas folks ???


Cheers,


Ritch
Click to expand...

Electrical sound or a mechanical sound?
 
Haha! Whats the optimate showing now?
When you try to fire it up is it a horrible mechanical grind or a quiet electrical click?
 
Last edited:
Nah I am a firefighter, not a bike mechanic! But you could be on to something there mate with the alternator. We really need to know more tho about the noise its making when you try and start it Ritch. Then we know whether to go down the electrics or mechanics route bud.:thumbup
 
first thing is try a battery you know is good Ritch, your battery has to be good, if you keep trying to start it with a slow battery it will have knackered the solenoid and that is what the clicking is, try a good battery first, but it may need a solenoid switch, if so get a yamaha one, do a search on here for the yamaha number
 
Black Sabbath said:
Nah I am a firefighter, not a bike mechanic! But you could be on to something there mate with the alternator. We really need to know more tho about the noise its making when you try and start it Ritch. Then we know whether to go down the electrics or mechanics route bud.:thumbup
Click to expand...

The first time i tried to start it i got a grunching noise (mechanical) which i think is the starter moter/sprag clutch. then when i tried again i got a clicking noise (electrical) :rant



Badger said:
first thing is try a battery you know is good Ritch, your battery has to be good, if you keep trying to start it with a slow battery it will have knackered the solenoid and that is what the clicking is, try a good battery first, but it may need a solenoid switch, if so get a yamaha one, do a search on here for the yamaha number
Click to expand...


Iain,

if i stick a screw driver across the solenoid terminals and it tries to turn over, does it mean the solenoid is good or bad ?


Cheers,


Ritch
 
Crickey..don't ground out that driver during this method..or ya may be up for more than just a batterry or solenoid. Your battery may be on the way out (dodgy cell etc) or as said not getting charged on the run. Try known new battery, this hopefully eliminates clicky clicky and goes straight past grind, clunk and motor fires nice n clean..:p Good luck
 
Ritch said:
The first time i tried to start it i got a grunching noise (mechanical) which i think is the starter moter/sprag clutch. then when i tried again i got a clicking noise (electrical) :rant






Iain,

if i stick a screw driver across the solenoid terminals and it tries to turn over, does it mean the solenoid is good or bad ?


Cheers,


Ritch
Click to expand...

Does not tell you the solenoid is good coz you have bypassed the switch in doing this, try good battery first then solenoid switch and that should hopefully do it, if not you need to delve further, but this will eliminate the easier fixes, see if you can borrow a battery you know is good and a solenoid switch before making any purchases.
 
Badger said:
Does not tell you the solenoid is good coz you have bypassed the switch in doing this, try good battery first then solenoid switch and that should hopefully do it, if not you need to delve further, but this will eliminate the easier fixes, see if you can borrow a battery you know is good and a solenoid switch before making any purchases.
Click to expand...


Spoke to my local dealer earlier on and explained the what was going on with the bike. The technician said if you bridge the solenoid and it tries to turn over the solenoid is definitely fooked as it should not do this ???
 
The solenoid should not do this, but is it due to the battery?, bad batteries cause the solenoid to go, if you try to turn it over and it is slow and you hear some clicking from the solenoid this is a sure sign of a weak battery, continual use of a weak battery is what knackers the solenoid.
 
Badger said:
The solenoid should not do this, but is it due to the battery?, bad batteries cause the solenoid to go, if you try to turn it over and it is slow and you hear some clicking from the solenoid this is a sure sign of a weak battery, continual use of a weak battery is what knackers the solenoid.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the reply Iain,


Guess id better put my hand in my pocket and get a new battery :rant


Cheers,

Ritch
 
Have you tried your connections? This happened to me aswell and it ended up being no fuel getting through due to a bad connection to the fuel pump, keep trying.
 
alreet dude if you want ya can put it side by side with mine and check out a few things if thats any help, just dont break mine :biggrin
 
dannypudge said:
Have you tried your connections? This happened to me aswell and it ended up being no fuel getting through due to a bad connection to the fuel pump, keep trying.
Click to expand...


Tried all the connections dude, everything seems good.


MilleBoy82 said:
alreet dude if you want ya can put it side by side with mine and check out a few things if thats any help, just dont break mine :biggrin
Click to expand...


Thanks for the the offer dude but dont think theres much to compare, yours goes, mine dont :bawling

Gonna have to get me a new battery and maybe solenoid :rant, once this probs fixed the bikes gone, gonna get me something Jap that dont have these starting probs :devious


Cheers,


Ritch
 
Last edited:
Ritch.....as you might have gussed these beasts need a real good battery...if it is a little weak it won't be strong enough to fire your Mille up....4cyl bikes don't suffer from this and an iffy battery will fire them up. It's a part of owning a big cyl twin mate.
 
RogerC said:
4cyl bikes don't suffer from this and an iffy battery will fire them up. It's a part of owning a big cyl twin mate.
Click to expand...


It sure is dude :biggrin only joking about getting rid of the RSV, cant think of a Jap 4cyl that i would buy, there far to small for a 6.2ft lad like myself




MilleBoy82 said:
hows that KTM getting on mate?
Click to expand...


I sold it Monday night :eek:,


To be honest mate, im that busy at work of late i aint gonna get chance to ride the Mille much this year let alone the KTM. One of the lads were it was being repaired made me an offer i could not refuse, so im a few quid up in my pocket............... GOOD TIMES !!!



Cheers,


Ritch
 
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