Rocket starting issues

Hi all! I'm new to this forum even though I bought my Rocket III touring bike new in 2013. She's now got 35k miles and I'm having a starting issue. I just got bike back from Somerset Pa harley/triumph dealer and they didn't fix problem. Here's what I got- Ignition on, clutch pulled, neutral, hit starter button and it will crank twice, stop, crank twice, stop, etc. until it finally cranks 3-4 revolutions and fires off. After it has started you can turn off ignition, turn it back on hit starter button and it fires off every time. Seems it only does this if it sets for any period of time, eg. 10 hours. Replaced battery, starter relay and cleaned starter connections. dealer did exact same thing (checked new battery) and charged me $126. No codes exist in memory so they are at a total loss. Taking off in 4 weeks on a cross country trip and worried it's going to leave me stranded. Brought bike home from shop (1-1/2 drive) and mechanic said he would call Triumph service tomorrow AM. Not sure why they didn't do that while they had the bike- Any ideas? I'll try the clutch switch tomorrow AM as well as GPS. Ignition switch was replaced under warranty last summer and I installed separate relay for headlight circuit. Appreciate any suggestions anyone may have.

i gave up a long time ago with changing relays and switches. I installed a switch on the plastic cover on the right side behind engine and wired it right battery to starter relay. i have the beaver kit installed. for some reason there is not enough voltage going through all the switches to the starter relay. good luck

Sounds like you have a voltage drop somewhere... Upgrade your main power and earth to your battery, clean all terminals and inspect tge contacts in you starter motor.

First thing is to upgrade your negative battery cable. Use the search function for instructions.

Next is the starter relay mod. Again, search for instructions.

Next is upgrade the 1.2Kw starter motor with a 1.4Kw model.

There is not a lot of headroom in the power needed to start the RIII. Therefore if any little thing is not quite right, you will have problems. Here are some things that have caused problems for me over the last 125,000 miles - many of which resulted in the "click" syndrome.

Battery low - charge it.
Battery dead - replace it.
Too many connectors on the battery - get a battery terminal and solder 6 wires into it, or a PC-8, or a PDM60.
30 amp fuse not connecting properly - the fusebox connectors which receive the fuse were a bit loose, I even saw it spark, so I put some solder on the fuse leg to widen it out. I also did this to the spare 30 amp fuse in case it was ever needed.
Battery terminals loose - tighten them
Terminals on starter motor dirty - clean them and check them for tightness
Ignition switch failure - original replaced under warranty - replacement repaired a year or so later - fit Eastern Beaver kit
Starter button failure - clean contacts on starter button
Kill switch problem - turn kill switch off

Also turn off any accessories when you start the bike cold. Things such as fog lights, heated clothing etc. draw power away from the starter.
Leave the bike on a battery tender. You may not need it, but it will make sure that the battery is still absolutely fully charged even after a while of not riding it.

A larger -ve cable can help, as can the extra relay mod to send power directly from the battery to the starter solenoid rather than through the ignition switch. However, with my keyless ignition I used better wiring than the OEM ignition switch loom so that has not been a problem for me.

My 06 R3 Standard would drag hard and drain the battery after only a few starting attempts. I cleaned the flywheel sensor and the motor rolls over without any hesitation. Good luck

Bellyman PJ said:

My 06 R3 Standard would drag hard and drain the battery after only a few starting attempts. I cleaned the flywheel sensor and the motor rolls over without any hesitation. Good luck

Click to expand...

What do you mean by "Flywheel Sensor" I see Flylead, Gear Position Sensor listed on drawings but not what you mentioned...?

treycefus said:

What do you mean by "Flywheel Sensor" I see Flylead, Gear Position Sensor listed on drawings but not what you mentioned...?

Click to expand...

Crank position sensor?

treycefus said:

What do you mean by "Flywheel Sensor" I see Flylead, Gear Position Sensor listed on drawings but not what you mentioned...?

Click to expand...

He is refering to the crank senser.
Located at the rear on the bottom of motor.
Run motor then shut off then pull senser small amount of oil will come out.
Hth
I wrote this yesterday still in phone this morning

I've just had the CLICK-CLACK sound and my bike would not start. I wiggled the small wire no top of the solenoid and it fired up and got me home from a rally I was at. Today I've removed the starter motor, removed the tin cover held by three 7mm fasteners and carefully pulled out the piston and spring that move the starter gear. The ROUND and HALF ROUND copper contacts were burnt and dirty. I cleaned them up with fine wet and dry, put it all back together and it works fine. So far so good !!