Starting probs

Hope it's nothing serious. I had a similar problem with my pointy. For a few days the lights came on and just heard clicking. The battery was not holding enough charge to start it (but enough for the lights). Got a new battery and was then fine.

[rictus01]

run a jump lead from the battery, expose the rubber boot covered connection on the top of the startermotor, briefly touch the lead to the connection, you should get the engine to turn on the starter (It won't start without the ignition on), if it turns over it shows the battery and starter motor are good.

the relay (yes the black plastic thing under the righthand sidecover) has the main fuse in it, but also can get water ingress, this normally results in it eatting fuses, a new one to replace or if you're handy it can be stripped and cleaned (but be aware it's not designed to be).

another point to check is the engine earth (thick black cable attached to the back of the engine), as the starter is a very high loading this can work fine for lights/ingnition and instruments, but fail with the extra load the starter takes, so although it may look OK, make sure it's in good condition and not corroided at all.

Also perhaps not directly related, but given the age/mileage have a search on "loom chaffing/rubbing" as this could cause weird problems, probably not, but and easy check as it's a known issue.

think the garage were taking the p*ss, but without actually seeing the old motor can't really say, certainly not the first place I would have looked.

Cheers Mark.

Originally Posted by gdharbourne

i was told by a garage that jumping off of a car was exremely bad for the bike..... is this not the case?

AA man who kept bikes himself reckoned not when I asked him. Be sure to connect in the order red to car, red to bike, black to car, black to bike.

Alternately, those car starting things you can get in halfords work really well, don't even need to leave them connected for a few minutes in most cases, just fire the bike up.

[northwind]

Originally Posted by gdharbourne

i was told by a garage that jumping off of a car was exremely bad for the bike..... is this not the case?

Yes, you need special bike volts Nah, it's all rubbish, people say that but the starter draws current, the battery doesn't push it, and they're all 12V systems. Lots of people say never jump from a running car, that I'm not so sure of.