She won't start! Help!
 

So I'm wending my merry way home from work this evening when I notice an unusual noise from the bike when pulling away. Sort of a tapping/flapping noise that seems to be coming from the rear tyre. Stopped the bike to check it out and was rolling the bike back and forward to check both tyres (nothing there to the naked eye) when I knocked it off the side stand and it started to fall :oops:

Luckily I am part gorilla, so managed to heave it upright from the awkward position I found myself in. As I was doing so the engine was revving really high, so I switched it off before going for the final push.

Got it back upright and went to start her up again; nada. The red warning light and oil pressure indicator came on , and all that happens when I push the switch is that my lights dim. Manage to push start it, all is going well, bloody noise starts up again. "Aha!" thinks me, being a clever sort :roll: : I'll wait until I'm at the top of a hill, check the if it's a tight spot on the chain, and then if it won't start again I'll push it down the hill and ride it home. It's not the chain. It now won't start even when rolling at up to 20mph...

So now I'm no closer to finding out what the noise is, and I have a bike that won't start :cry:. Any suggestions?

BTW, it's a k5

Have you knocked the kill switch ?

Tip Over Sensor come loose? But that should give you an FI indicator on the LCD.

Dan

No, kill switch is first thing I checked. What's the tip-over sensor, and is there a way to reset it?

Connector for the clutch switch unplugged?


Cheers
Ben

Only indicator is the oil pressure indicator. Loads of oil in there, tho! Maybe an oil pump/pressure sensor issue? Would that stop the ECU from allowing the bike to start maybe?

As far as I know I checked every connection I could find. Whereabouts is that one? Lights are still dimming when I hit the switch, so it's registering that something's happening

Not sure if the switch is in the same place on the K5 - on my K1 its just in front of the clutch lever - you cant miss the pair of wires going onto it. Easiest way to rule it out, try starting with the clutch out (in neutral of course) if the lights dont dim then the switch is more than likely OK

Lights dimming would to me indicate that power is getting to the starter motor.. after the bike being dropped, the 1st thing I would think would be engine oil in one or both cylinders. However since the bike was running after it was dropped then you could almost rule that out (could try taking plugs out and see)

And as I've stressed on here before... attempting to turn the engine over with oil in one or both cylinders could lead to all sorts of problems like bent con-rod or head gasket probs.

Pete

Clutch switch would be top of my list, had the same thing happen to me :oops: well similar anyways :P

Doubtful, if the lights are dimming

Just my £0.02

Pete