dreaded "click"

[canadiancopper2014]

Folks, if I may take a moment to entertain you.

Spring, well sort of comes around. The exciting moment of taking out the batteries stored inside while trickling all winter comes. The rocket gets the install and no smile, just a click.

Background:

At the end of the 2014 season, I put treated gas into the tank and had it run for a good ten minutes. I do that with all my bikes. The battery which was purchased a month ago (Odyssey AGM) was pulled out, on the Flips Paddock stand and went to sleep. The 2014 riding season was flawless, no complaints.

This week:

Battery goes in, nice and bright lights, hear the pump going and push the button, "click". I have read the forums, also on the .com as well. I will try to make this as easy as possible (second glass of rye).

The Bike:

2010 R3T
Second owner
12,343 Miles
As soon as I received the bike from a dealer, understanding the ignition problems of this marque, I went ahead and got the EB Headlight kit
Purchased LED lights driving lights (previous post)
Has installed by previous owner a Scorpio alarm 8500 I think?
Ram Air
Power Commander 5
Custom Map from Z1 Cycle in Toronto

Actions so far:

I have checked the fuses, all good.
I have replaced the starter relay, no change. Had extras that I knew were good
Battery is basically a couple of months old. I even used jumper cables from my Toyota Highlander with a new battery, no change
I pulled apart the starter switch, minimal residue. I had some Emery cloth, some WD40 and compressed air. All clean and put back together.
I inspected the ignition switch by having the switch "on" and moving the harness underneath as well as moving the handlebars left and right. No change, no blinking of lights, no blips of any kind.
I pulled the starter, took apart the rear cover as mentioned from Warp, there was very mild arching on the tabs. I again Emery Cloth and blew out the residue.

When I push the start button the lights turn off for a second then come on again. I hear the solenoid engaging no dice. I do this with the kickstand down, up, in neutral, in gear, clutch in. No change.

I got to thinking that maybe its Hydrolocked??

I put it into gear, cannot push it, not even a bit. I understand it is a large bike. I tried to pull the plugs to use my handy dandy automotive snake camera, to which the socket I have to pull the plugs, is to big. It doesn't even fit in the hole (13/16 socket).

This is when I decided to wash my hands, have a drink and type away from frustration. To my benefit, riding is still a bit away, still a lot a sand and grit on the roads.

This has gotten me stumped. While the bike is apart, I got 4 Gauge wire to beef up the ground side, and will be doing the starter relay mod.

Gentlemen, have I missed something here. Everything on the bike is clean, tight and tidy. Regarding the thought of it being Hydrolocked is a stretch, no evidence of head gasket problems nor fluid in the oil.

Please advise on the wisdom of the membership, as for I have none.

Thanks for your time.

PS, the reason I like the old bikes, put in battery, tickled the carbs, kicked down twice to prime the system, ignition on, first kick and the song of the parallel twins comes to life.

 

[1olbull]

I be no guru - one or two will surely show later . . .
BUT - alarm systems SUCK!
It would be my first 86.

 

[Scorp]

I had a battery go faulty on me the last time it was replaced. The electrics on the bike seemed good, bright lights etc, but just a clicking with the ignition. I put the battery on charge over night and it showed good charge, 13.4 volts by memory. Still not turning over. Tried jump start with car and then a portable jump pack and still not starting. Got another battery and it fired up straight away. All I could guess is my battery was faulty and prevented any full charge going through the system.

 

[Jeff Cameron]

Did you ever get the engine to turn over? Did you try a higher gear? What about a meter on the battery when you hit the starter....are you seeing a large voltage drop? What about the starter current draw....is it too high?

 

[R3Tex]

As your first words included entertainment, I'm gonna guess that you went through all that and then remembered to turn on the kill switch or something right? No?

Ok...I don't have a touring to play with, but I had a similar problem a while back with the '09. I took the battery out to replace a buddy's on short notice. Bike was running perfectly. When I put the battery back in and hit the starter...no joy. What I found was a wire that came unplugged under the left side cover. It was a single black wire in its own connector, not bundled into a harness. I guess when I disconnected the ground wire I knocked the connector loose. Any way, plugged it back in and all was well. Any chance that this may have happened during the battery instal?

 

[charlie farley]

Have you checked the earth cable at the engine end it's bolted on just in front of the starter motor or you could try using one of your jumper leads as a temporary earth to the engine from battery - to rule out duff earth connection I replaced mine with welding earth cable completely ott never had a problem again.

 

[steve59]

my battery wouldn't crank at anything under 13.7v and iv'e bought more than 1 that was no good right off the shelf.

 

[Sensfan]

Folks, if I may take a moment to entertain you.

Spring, well sort of comes around. The exciting moment of taking out the batteries stored inside while trickling all winter comes. The rocket gets the install and no smile, just a click.

Background:

At the end of the 2014 season, I put treated gas into the tank and had it run for a good ten minutes. I do that with all my bikes. The battery which was purchased a month ago (Odyssey AGM) was pulled out, on the Flips Paddock stand and went to sleep. The 2014 riding season was flawless, no complaints.

This week:

Battery goes in, nice and bright lights, hear the pump going and push the button, "click". I have read the forums, also on the .com as well. I will try to make this as easy as possible (second glass of rye).

The Bike:

2010 R3T
Second owner
12,343 Miles
As soon as I received the bike from a dealer, understanding the ignition problems of this marque, I went ahead and got the EB Headlight kit
Purchased LED lights driving lights (previous post)
Has installed by previous owner a Scorpio alarm 8500 I think?
Ram Air
Power Commander 5
Custom Map from Z1 Cycle in Toronto

Actions so far:

I have checked the fuses, all good.
I have replaced the starter relay, no change. Had extras that I knew were good
Battery is basically a couple of months old. I even used jumper cables from my Toyota Highlander with a new battery, no change
I pulled apart the starter switch, minimal residue. I had some Emery cloth, some WD40 and compressed air. All clean and put back together.
I inspected the ignition switch by having the switch "on" and moving the harness underneath as well as moving the handlebars left and right. No change, no blinking of lights, no blips of any kind.
I pulled the starter, took apart the rear cover as mentioned from Warp, there was very mild arching on the tabs. I again Emery Cloth and blew out the residue.

When I push the start button the lights turn off for a second then come on again. I hear the solenoid engaging no dice. I do this with the kickstand down, up, in neutral, in gear, clutch in. No change.

I got to thinking that maybe its Hydrolocked??

I put it into gear, cannot push it, not even a bit. I understand it is a large bike. I tried to pull the plugs to use my handy dandy automotive snake camera, to which the socket I have to pull the plugs, is to big. It doesn't even fit in the hole (13/16 socket).

This is when I decided to wash my hands, have a drink and type away from frustration. To my benefit, riding is still a bit away, still a lot a sand and grit on the roads.

This has gotten me stumped. While the bike is apart, I got 4 Gauge wire to beef up the ground side, and will be doing the starter relay mod.

Gentlemen, have I missed something here. Everything on the bike is clean, tight and tidy. Regarding the thought of it being Hydrolocked is a stretch, no evidence of head gasket problems nor fluid in the oil.

Please advise on the wisdom of the membership, as for I have none.

Thanks for your time.

PS, the reason I like the old bikes, put in battery, tickled the carbs, kicked down twice to prime the system, ignition on, first kick and the song of the parallel twins comes to life.

I had the same issue when I was leaving out of town in March, just wanted to start it and let it run for a bit. It would click, and nothing, system would reset, had full charge on battery etc. My garage was fairly cold, so I threw on the propane heater for about an hour with a fan circulating the warm air onto the bike, brought the garage up to around 25C, then it fired right up with no issues. For mine, it seems the colder temperatures don't agree with it, and that's the fix, had to do the same thing last spring as well.

 

[warp9.9]

As your first words included entertainment, I'm gonna guess that you went through all that and then remembered to turn on the kill switch or something right? No?

Ok...I don't have a touring to play with, but I had a similar problem a while back with the '09. I took the battery out to replace a buddy's on short notice. Bike was running perfectly. When I put the battery back in and hit the starter...no joy. What I found was a wire that came unplugged under the left side cover. It was a single black wire in its own connector, not bundled into a harness. I guess when I disconnected the ground wire I knocked the connector loose. Any way, plugged it back in and all was well. Any chance that this may have happened during the battery instal?

I believe this is the plug that Morris was talking about. it plugs into the small plug coming from the Negative right after the battery. I only have a shot of the end it plugs into so I did not forget to plug it in when I put my engine back in the bike.

When mine clicked one of the things I did which worked out well was rocking the bike in gear to make the crank move ever slightly. and she would then fire right up. I can not speak for batteries being bad I bought mine about three years ago maybe four and still have it and the 600 CCA Lithium Ferrous battery I bought when I put the scorpion 320 CCA battery in the bike.

 

[tdragger]

That little connector on the negative battery cable is part of the alarm system. It must be plugged in or no joy.

Check the engine connection of the negative battery cable.

Pull and clean the crank angle sensor.