Need some help with a problem with my 2002 honda Blackbird.

[Sweetruss]

If you have any ideas on this, please let me know.

I have a 2002 BB with just over 7000 miles. I bought a new battery about 4 months ago and it was fully charged at the place I bought it by a friend of mine. I put the battery in the bike and it ran fine. I only ride my bike about 1, maybe twice a week, so I leave it on a tender to help the battery out. Here is the problem:

When I go out to crank my bird, it will not start. It hits one quick time and stops like the battery is dead. It p*ssed me off so much this past week that I took out my frustrations by hitting the damn start button about 5 times in a row, the damn thang started on the 5th hit. All other times it just one hit and stopped. The only noticable info I can give you is the digital clock reset on the dash which leads me to beleieve the battery might be defective...?

any help as too what to check first or what to look for would help.


Thanks,

Rusty

[mandingo]

Your battery could be bad, it's possible even though it's not that old. Those things have always been hard to start to begin with.

[MrDude_1]

start by checking your power connections.. from batt to starter solenoid(relay) and from there to the starter. and check your main ground cable.

although that "tap it 5 times then it works" sounds like the starter solenoid to me....

[DK]

MR dude is leading you on the correct path....

Check out the starter solenoid if your problem remains consistent.....

Perform a load test on the battery when you try and start the bike....

Also look for any other relays before the starter solenoid.....

Relays fail all the time, regaurdless of how old they are ....

[SUM650]

Let's do the simple things first Russ. Check the battery with a volt meter. Do it first without the bike running. Should be about 12 volts. Next step, since you are able to start the bike now. Check the voltage across the batt. while the bike is running. It should be about 14 volts or so. You may have to rev the engine up 2 or 3 grand to see this. Now if all of that checks out. I think that you may have a simple corroded starter button contacts. How do you fix that, well I'll tell you.

First disconnect one of your battery leads. Then take apart your starter button assy. Spray the contacts good with wd 40. Then get some dielectric grease and lube up the contacts real good. Put the thing back together including the battery cable and guess what? You wont have a starter button problem for sure. If this still doesn't fix your woes, then give me a call and I will help you out.

I think this maybe your problem because of the key actions that you told us about. You said that you hit the starter button and the darn thing worked. This action had nothing to do with the starter, relay, solenoid, battery or the wiring. Mr dude and DK could of course be right. DK is the expert here as you know. I just always try the simple easy things first. It may be the problem and it may not. Only takes a few minutes.

[mandingo]

Or your battery could be bad. :lol:

[Sweetruss]

*****UPDATE*****

Here is some new news, I went home and tested the battery. I unplugged the tender and read a voltage of 13.2 volts. I then hit the start button and it turned over about 3 times and then "locked up", like the battery was dead. I rechecked the battery voltage and it read 12.3v. I tried to crank it again and it hit once and then locked up, again like the battery was dead. Again I checked the voltage and it read 12.3v. Does this mean anything to the motor gu-ru's? Maybe the started or something now......?

[DK]

Russ,

you are going to need a wiring schematic to test the available voltage from the starter button back to all the relays/ diodes that are inline in the harness before the starter solenoid.....

If you can make a nice jumper lead you may want to jump the hot side(Battery) of your starter relay to the starter motor side lead wire.....

If the bike will turn over by jumping these two leads together then battery voltage is not the issue..... If it is weak then this will not work..... If it is good then it will work ......

You want to check the voltage being applied to the starter relay from the starter button..... Chances are good you have a severe voltage drop at the relay due to something in line before the relay....(diodes / other relays).....

Start by cleaning the contacts for these relays and created jumper wires to test each relay....... You will then want to test the available voltage at the starter relay again to see if you have helped bring any more voltage to the relay......

You can also isolate the starter relay by removing the two small contact leads from the wiring harness and jumping them to the battery to listen to it click...... Do this also to insure that the relay will pass enough (volts/ amps) to turn the starter motor over......

When doing this keep your leads from your tester on the battery terminals to check the voltage drop on the battery when the starter motor is engaged..... If you see it drop below 10 volts than I would highlt recomend replacing the battery...(only if you have charged it completely/ batteries can fail, happens all the time, just sounds to me as if you have a severe voltage/amperage drop before starter relay.......

[Sweetruss]

thanks guys and DK, my other forum was explaining almost the same kind of test as well. Thanks for eveyone taking the time to throw all these ideas out to help. I should have some time Saturday to start checking.

XOXO

[DK]

XOXO ?

Awwwwwwwwwwwwww.......

:luff:

I think the old ladies going to get jealous ......

Good luck Russ.

Me nah batty bwoy .....

[MrDude_1]

im glad DK typed that out, so i didnt have to... LOL


one other thing to add.. if you'd rather chance money over time.... you can try just replacing the starter 'noid... if i was to take a guess id guess that over any of the other inline components failing.

[Sweetruss]

Well guys, I finally got some time this yesterday to look at my bike. I was just about to tear things apart and test the jumper wires when I noticed my battery tender was blinking red. Not sure if that meant charging or not charging so I invetigated further and found that the fuse had blown and needed replacing. So this means that the entire time my bike battery wasn't on the tender. Since my year bird has a digital display including the continuous clock, I think this might be my problem. I'm going to borrow my neighbors charger and give it a slow, long charge and see what happens. Thanks for eveyone that responded to the thread. Hopefully this is the problem.......

r.