QuestionHi Bill,
Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. I am a novice to bike repair, have only owned for a short while. I was riding the other day for about an hour, everything seemed fine. I was low on fuel so I stopped to fill up before coming home. Filled up, turned the key, pressed the starter and the instrument lights went out. Removed and reinserted the key, turned it and.. no lights. I walked the bike to the side of the gas station, tried again and still nothing. I checked the battery connections and they seemed OK. Tried again and same thing, the lights came on, then died when I pressed the starter, then nothing when I reinserted the key. Called the wife, just in case I needed a lift.. tried again, and it fired right up. Rode home, and haven't had time to tinker with it for the past couple days but I tried to start it again and, once again, nothing happens. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!
AnswerMark,
First be sure that the battery is fully charged and will pass a load test. Weak/dying batteries and/or weak/failing charging systems will definitely take the bike down electrically.
Second, when you press the starter button, the headlights are bypassed momentarily until the button is released, which is NORMAL. Button IN.. starter circuit. Button OUT... headlight ON.
Also:
Check the ignition switch base connection to see if there is looseness or a broken retainer tab at the base of the ignition switch. It is kind of hard to see it, but the wiring harness has a connector at the base of the ignition switch which can fail/break/loosen.
Quite likely that the starter button switch is failing. If it doesn't feel like it is springing back smartly after button release, then the internals are probably collapsing or it has some corrosion that has worked its way into the switch connections inside the switch housing.
Bill Silver
