Suddenly bike won't start only a ticking starter relay?

[Jpich85]

I've got an electrical problem and wanted to ask you guys if anyone knew what might be up with it. 

I've went to start the bike today, it had one try of starting but on my second try the starter relay just kept clicking and is still like it. 

I tried 3 different batteries all with good charge.
I have volts coming to the relay and down to the starter.
I jumped the starter by itself and that was working fine. 
The bikes in neutral.
I'm not sure on the side stand as that was removed but it's been starting fine for the last few weeks. 
The only only thing I did was mess with the rev pick up wire as I have a acewell speedo and was trying to get a better rev pick up but I've put that all as it was previously incase it was that and its still just clicking.
Checked all the fuses too.

I'm stuck on what else I could check, any help would be great.

[Wee Man]

Sounds like the starter relay is faulty.  If you've bridged the terminals and it starts, you're bypassing the faulty relay. Clicking doesn't necessarily mean it's working correctly. 

[bluedog59]

Take the terminals off and give them a good clean back to bare metal. A bad connection is often the problem.

[TonyGee]

if you put a volt meter on to the starter wire bolt and see if you get full battery voltage,  if not its the starter relay or a bad connection. 

[Jpich85]

1 hour ago, Wee Man said:

Sounds like the starter relay is faulty.  If you've bridged the terminals and it starts, you're bypassing the faulty relay. Clicking doesn't necessarily mean it's working correctly. 

@Wee Manwhen I jumped it i used a battery straight to the starter motor. 

I did try and bridge the terminals on the starter relay but nothing happened? Is that normal?

Thanks mate

[Jpich85]

1 hour ago, bluedog59 said:

Take the terminals off and give them a good clean back to bare metal. A bad connection is often the problem.

@bluedog59

@TonyGee

Thanks guys, everything is new on there so I don't think it would be that but I'll definitely double check them. 

It's strange how it happened after I messed about with the rev signal wire, I'm hoping that was coincidence.

What voltage would you expect to see on the terminals on the starter relay?

Thanks

[Devilman]

1 hour ago, Jpich85 said:

@bluedog59

@TonyGee

Thanks guys, everything is new on there so I don't think it would be that but I'll definitely double check them. 

It's strange how it happened after I messed about with the rev signal wire, I'm hoping that was coincidence.

What voltage would you expect to see on the terminals on the starter relay?

Thanks

Most likely just coincidental. 

You should see battery voltage on the starter relay terminals, within 0.1 or 0.2v anyway.

[Jpich85]

6 minutes ago, Devilman said:

Most likely just coincidental. 

You should see battery voltage on the starter relay terminals, within 0.1 or 0.2v anyway.

Thanks @DevilmanI'll double check them again when i get back on the bike, if I'm getting a low reading on the terminals what could be the issue?

[Devilman]

2 minutes ago, Jpich85 said:

Thanks @DevilmanI'll double check them again when i get back on the bike, if I'm getting a low reading on the terminals what could be the issue?

Obviously first port of call is to check the battery voltage, both unloaded (nothing switched on) and loaded (say, all headlights on, holding down the "pass" button too so you have dip & main beam on at the same time for bigger power draw).

Once you know the battery is good, Check the connections at the battery, starter relay and starter end, they may be all corroded and require cleaning for a nice, clean connection with minimal resistance / voltage drop

If you still got problems after this, come back to us and we can see what else might be causing issues

[Wee Man]

1 hour ago, Jpich85 said:

@Wee Manwhen I jumped it i used a battery straight to the starter motor. 

I did try and bridge the terminals on the starter relay but nothing happened? Is that normal?

Thanks mate

No, the starter should have spun when you did this. Check the wire from relay to starter for continuity with your multimeter. Also check engine earth.

[Devilman]

2 minutes ago, Wee Man said:

No, the starter should have spun when you did this. Check the wire from relay to starter for continuity with your multimeter. Also check engine earth.

Could also be the wire from the battery to the relay too... Whole circuit needs checking to confirm both continuity and load capability.

Sadly continuity test with a multimeter does nothing to prove if the circuit can handle the load of the starter motor.

[Jpich85]

1 hour ago, Wee Man said:

No, the starter should have spun when you did this. Check the wire from relay to starter for continuity with your multimeter. Also check engine earth.

Thanks @Wee ManI'll give them a check, it's stange though as everything is new on there and I've been firing it up and running it for the past few weeks, I went on holiday, came back and messed with the rev pick up then this lol

[Jpich85]

1 hour ago, Devilman said:

Obviously first port of call is to check the battery voltage, both unloaded (nothing switched on) and loaded (say, all headlights on, holding down the "pass" button too so you have dip & main beam on at the same time for bigger power draw).

Once you know the battery is good, Check the connections at the battery, starter relay and starter end, they may be all corroded and require cleaning for a nice, clean connection with minimal resistance / voltage drop

If you still got problems after this, come back to us and we can see what else might be causing issues

Thanks at @DevilmanI'll give all of that a try, most of my connections are new as I made custom ones to fit my battery placement, I've been running it ok for the past few weeks, if it's not cranking when i bridge the starter terminals but I'm getting voltage to the relay, what could they mean? What voltage am I looking for? 12+ volts?

Thanks

[clivegto]

This happened to me last week on my Harris. After checking the battery and swapping the starter relay it turned out to be that the 2 starter motor bolts had come loose just enough to stop it earthing properly. Hope yours is an easy fix. 

[Wee Man]

37 minutes ago, Jpich85 said:

Thanks at @DevilmanI'll give all of that a try, most of my connections are new as I made custom ones to fit my battery placement, I've been running it ok for the past few weeks, if it's not cranking when i bridge the starter terminals but I'm getting voltage to the relay, what could they mean? What voltage am I looking for? 12+ volts?

Thanks

What size of wire did you use for battery to relay and relay to starter? 

[fab]

do you have a clutch switch? if so check it or bypass it.

[Jpich85]

35 minutes ago, fab said:

do you have a clutch switch? if so check it or bypass it.

Thanks @fabit's a gsxr 750 1990, I don't think it has a clutch switch but I'll double check.

[Jpich85]

1 hour ago, clivegto said:

This happened to me last week on my Harris. After checking the battery and swapping the starter relay it turned out to be that the 2 starter motor bolts had come loose just enough to stop it earthing properly. Hope yours is an easy fix. 

Thanks @clivegtoI hope so too, I didn't think of that, I'll check that too.

Is there a way of checking if you have a good earth or not? Maybe with a multimeter? It did start when I jumped it straight to the starter motor. 

[Jpich85]

1 hour ago, Wee Man said:

What size of wire did you use for battery to relay and relay to starter? 

@Wee ManI'm not 100% but I picked the closest size to the original cables that the factory used, I'll double check though. Its been ok though for a few weeks now suddenly its playing up. 

[Dezza]

When you checked and confirmed the starter motor was OK, did you use the same battery and earth connection? You may have a dud battery / dodgy main earth, i.e. battery negative to earth, which in its present state may be OK for light loads but not be able to handle the biggest load of all, when cranking the starter.

[Gixer1460]

Whilst you state you've added components and done some re- rewiring, both of which need some level of electrical understanding, your questions regarding what voltages to look for and what happens when bridging the starter soli, seem to indicate little knowledge? Its concerning me as a badly made wiring harness / poorly earthed component might not fail immediately / fail tomorrow / next week or year but it will cause problems, often with unrelated components or in worse cases melt the loom! Electrical problems being diagnosed over the internet are a guesswork nitemare - good luck, and btw, most of the suggestions are basic principles that shouldn't need suggesting! Flame me if you want but its why I tend to shy away from electrical queries!

[Jpich85]

1 hour ago, Dezza said:

When you checked and confirmed the starter motor was OK, did you use the same battery and earth connection? You may have a dud battery / dodgy main earth, i.e. battery negative to earth, which in its present state may be OK for light loads but not be able to handle the biggest load of all, when cranking the starter.

Hi @Dezzano I didn't I just put the negative to the engine and ran a wire to the terminal on the starter and it worked OK, I see what you mean though it seems to make more sense to use the earth from the wiring harness to see if that works, if not then I guess it could suggest a bad earth.

I think the fact that when I bridge the terminals on the starter relay nothing happens may help pin point what it is but I'm still trying to figure that out lol

[Jpich85]

1 hour ago, Gixer1460 said:

Whilst you state you've added components and done some re- rewiring, both of which need some level of electrical understanding, your questions regarding what voltages to look for and what happens when bridging the starter soli, seem to indicate little knowledge? Its concerning me as a badly made wiring harness / poorly earthed component might not fail immediately / fail tomorrow / next week or year but it will cause problems, often with unrelated components or in worse cases melt the loom! Electrical problems being diagnosed over the internet are a guesswork nitemare - good luck, and btw, most of the suggestions are basic principles that shouldn't need suggesting! Flame me if you want but its why I tend to shy away from electrical queries!

Thanks @Gixer1460I know my questions may seem stupid but I just like to clarify what I think it might be with you guys who obviously have a lot more knowledge than I do, regarding the voltage i wasn't sure if you should expect bang on what the battery is reading or maybe a little less or a lot less. 

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of knowledge on electrical side of things.

The fact that when I bridge the relay though that nothing happens seems really strange I think that may help me pin point it if I can find it why that's happening 

[Devilman]

37 minutes ago, Jpich85 said:

Thanks @Gixer1460I know my questions may seem stupid but I just like to clarify what I think it might be with you guys who obviously have a lot more knowledge than I do, regarding the voltage i wasn't sure if you should expect bang on what the battery is reading or maybe a little less or a lot less. 

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of knowledge on electrical side of things.

The fact that when I bridge the relay though that nothing happens seems really strange I think that may help me pin point it if I can find it why that's happening 

If you've tried bridging the 2 big terminals on the starter relay and nothing happened, then you wanna check the heavy cable running from the battery to the relay and the section running from the relay to the motor. Inspect them for any signs of damage or overheating.  

If you have a jumper cable you can "jump" from the battery to the "battery side" of the starter relay and try the starter button to see if it spins over, if the starter still does not turn, try jumping to the "starter side" of the starter relay and see if it spins over from the button.

You're basically checking whether there is a "load fault" with the cable from the battery to relay and then from relay to starter by bypassing them in turn with a "known good" (jumper) cable to try and eliminate the fault

Edited July 18, 2022 by Devilman

[Dezza]

I think I'd be checking the main earth. If that looks OK, try a starter motor to frame earth bypass cable to check the engine to frame connectivity.

Also, did you make new battery cables with crimp only without the aid of a special (i.e. expensive) crimper? If so, I'd definitely be checking these out. Also try checking the starter relay to motor cable. You effectively bypassed all this lot and the motor spun so the fault lies here if the relay works correctly.