Bike sometimes starts

steve mitchell said:

I'm wondering where the starting relay is on an 09 rocket III, Standard is?
Today I want to start my bike and when I pushed the starter... nothing. She did not turn over. No click. nothing changed at all. I turned the key off and on. I heard all the normal sounds. Fuel pump everything. I pulled in the clutch and again nothing. I check the kickstand and to be sure I shifted her into neutral. Again nothing. I messed with the wiring going into the start pushbutton and turned the key back on and When I pushed the button she started. I drove home and tried again and she started 3 times. so I went in the house. after an hour I tried again and nothing. No starting. So I took the starting switch apart and didn't find any problems. I put a meter to it and every time I pushed it, it read good. It makes a good connection. (.46 ohms). I put the meter on the battery and she read 12.7V. When I tried starting her and she turned over I see a small voltage drop but not much. 12.46V. When I push the button and nothing happened I saw no drop. It's like no signal is either getting to the starting relay or the relay is sometimes working. Where can I find this?

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DEcosse said:

It's not the battery - if it was battery the voltage would collapse severely with starter current demand if the relay and solenoid were actually throwing

The headlight/starter relay sounds like good possibility here;
But first - are the headlights on?
You mentioned the ignition circuit is coming on but how about the lights?
The same circuit powers both headlights & solenoid and uses the headlight/starter relay to switch to one or other (headlights when the relay is 'off' & starter solenoid when relay is on)
So if you have no headlights you will have no starter either - check for voltage at fuse 9 to ensure not a key-switch issue & of course that fuse 9 itself is not blown
Next, if that is all good - the headlight/starter relay requires both positive voltage from starter switch and also a 'ground' which is actually a current sink through the ECU; that 'ground' is enabled by the clutch switch primarily; low voltage can also be a gate for that but you should be fine at the reported measured voltage;
So validate that you really do have the clutch switch closing - the clutch switch supplies 'ground' when closed via the black/orange wire off main-harness side of left bar switch connector to the ECU; aftermarket adjustable clutch levers can be issue here - start by opening adjuster span for lever max setting from bar to see if that works
If confident clutch switch is making then that probably brings you to relay itself

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