2000 929, No power except when pressing starter?

K

klayman

Active member
Hey folks, I've just been hit with my first major electrical issue with this bike and am really scratching my head on it.

I've gone through the basic tests (fuses, battery, ignition switch) and the bike has no power when you flip the key to ON (no lights, no dash lights, nothing). The battery is sitting at about 12.6v and I get just about the same on the other side of the ignition switch in the ON position. The starter relay shows just over 12v and has continuity between the main posts.

The odd thing is, when I press the starter button the dash and headlights flicker and I hear a single click sound (doesn't sound like the starter, more like a relay?)...

Anyone heard of this before and have any pointers I could use to start narrowing this down more?

Thanks a ton!
Mike
 
leave the voltmeter on the battery when you hit the starter button.. see what the voltage drops to when you hear that click... below 10 volts and you have found the problem,,, it may be a bad battery, bad connection , that won't pass enough current ... just a guess as you did mention some things that make me think problem might be elsewhere.. but best prove the battery .. the other thing you can do is hotwire the starter relay,, provide a pos.+ pulse to the signal post right from the battery,, that should tell you if you have good circuit to the current wires, then you can chase the signal wires thru the ignition switch,, on off kill switch.. etc.. hth
 
Thanks meester_jamie. I just checked and this is really strange (to me).

Battery now registers 12.3v with everything off. As soon as I flip the key to ON, it drops to 2v and was dropping another 0.1v every few seconds. When I hit the starter button the lights flicker and the battery jumps up to around 11v.
 
klayman said:
Thanks meester_jamie. I just checked and this is really strange (to me).

Battery now registers 12.3v with everything off. As soon as I flip the key to ON, it drops to 2v and was dropping another 0.1v every few seconds. When I hit the starter button the lights flicker and the battery jumps up to around 11v.
Click to expand...

And when you boost it?
 
I would be looking for a bad ground, start with the main cable. I wonder if hitting the starter is supplying a ground to the battery somehow? I once found a small guage ground in a harness that was green about 20" up. Larry.
 
alcutter said:
I would be looking for a bad ground, start with the main cable. I wonder if hitting the starter is supplying a ground to the battery somehow? I once found a small guage ground in a harness that was green about 20" up. Larry.
Click to expand...

This was exactly my first thought as well. Although your symptoms seem to indicate that the hot may be shorting to ground through the starter. When you engage the starter, it bypasses the direct short. If you have a short the wires to the starter should very quickly warm up with the key on and the starter not engaged. Don't leave the key on for too long or something may burn up.
 
Try the simple stuff first. Sounds like the battery is toast, so just boost it to see if that's true. The battery has to maintain at least 11v when cranking or the electronics won't even turn on.
 
Sorry it took so long to get back to the thread... I can't believe I didn't even think of boosting it.

Boosted it, started right up. Got the battery tested and it was toast, new one in now and everything is back to normal. Thanks guys!
 
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