Hi Guys,

I know there was another post on this topic, but I did not want to mix the 2 different problems.

Ok, here's the deal. On occasion, my bike does not want to start. You push the button and the starter seems to labor and lights on gauge cluster dim out. Sometimes it will turn a bit, then seem to have hic-cup in the power and the instrument panels acts as if I disconnected and then reconnected the battery. Speedo and tach go through their sweep, radar detector goes into self test, and all values(except milage) get reset back to zero. 9 out of 10, it will start after it does this. This problem started very infrequently around November of last year. Could this be a bad starter relay or possibly the starter?

Here's what I have, an '06 that is basically stock. I have added +4 deg timing rotor, slip ons, HID's, GPS, and a radar decetor.

Here's what I've done so far. I have ruled out the mods because they were all done within 2 months of getting the bike in early '07. I have had 26,000 trouble free miles since. First, I replaced the battery...no change. Then, I cleaned the starter button...no change. Then I cleaned and tightened all connections at the battery, frame, and starter relay...no change.

I know that there is a lot knowledge on here and any help would be greatly appreciated.

* Last updated by: redtrace on 10/20/2010 @ 4:26 PM *

Well Red..if you can kinda remember to do this....switch your display screen to "voltage"...leave it on that mode.See what your cranking/starting voltage is...even if it only appears momentarily before it "resets"(anything around the upper 11's or bottom 12's,could be not enough cranking volts...mine refuses to start "when"("if")she hits 11.8,12.0...anything around that.(course,she doesn't DO that unless the batts dying from not getting a full charge)(which is way rare).At least you'll have an idea if she's pullin too much cranking volts(bad starter maybe or dragging?).Possibly she's actually NOT holding a charge?I know you said you replaced the batt...did you FULLY CHARGE your NEW battery before installing and riding?If not,it could be that she's not ever really getting to a full charge state just from riding.Those symptoms sound like possible low voltage at startup?Cranking slow....that kind of thing.Check your voltage while riding as well...should be up there pretty good...maybe around 13.5 to 14+ volts.

"Cleaned and tightened all connections(at the battery)"....word of caution from one who has done it....be very careful about tightening those battery terminal bolts.You can crack those posts free inside the case...and never really notice it.Your battery will fail quite quickly for no apparent reason(fail to hold a charge).They(the posts) must NOT wiggle or move in any way going into the case.If they are "loose"...it's most likely your battery is failing AGAIN.

"Resetting" back to zero.Sounds like low voltage.You LCD display on "voltage" should give you an idea while riding as to how well the stator's working.Possibly TOO much...overheating...with your accessories on there.IDK...just some ideas.

I think your "key on" voltage read is gonna tell ya if she's at a low voltage state.12 something to start.anything less,it's gonna be iffy.

I will post this...not as a cut against anyone...but I had a lightweight battery at one time.It started differently than your stock battery.You had to hit the starter several times to get it up to cranking voltage.That's the way it was designed.One of my main "problems" that I took it out and replaced for was...."resetting" the LCD displays on stuff.Got tired of having to reset my clock everytime I went to ride.So your "resetting" deal sounds very familiar with a low voltage situation.At least that's what mine did.

Dumb question here...but...you DID install your battery cover back on there when you changed Batteries,yes?It's not arching across the frame in there somewhere,yes?

* Last updated by: blue07 on 10/20/2010 @ 5:48 PM *

Nice trouble shooting tips blue. Good post! +1

Thanks for the reply blue. I forgot to mention the volts but I had seen that elsewhere on here so made it a point to check it out.

Key on, volts read 12.5 - 13.0. While riding, 14.0 - 14.5. During crank is hard to tell. Starts at 12.5+ but the display disappears.

Yes, full charge on the new battery and replaced the battery cover.

I thought about the accessories. Turned off the radar detector and unplugged the GPS. Same outcome. The HID's should have a draw that is less than the halogens they replace. I have the 35W in the lows only.

The manual does have some checks you can make on the starter brushes and armature. I think it would be worth the time and o-rings you have to replace to check this before spending the $300. on the new starter.

did you ever find out what the problem was?mine does exactly the same,once in a while when I try to start it,it's like the battery gets disconnected for a second and everything gets reset to zero,i don't bother to set the clock anymore.i was looking for a new batt,but the voltage can't drop to zero and come back up in a fraction of a second from a bad battery,it would have trouble starting everytime but mine starts perfect most of the time.it must be something wrong in the starting cicuit,most likely the starter might be grounded inside and shorts out sometimes,but again it would be hard to start everytime,mine starts perfect.
please let me know if you found the problem,it would save me lots of time
thanks

What do your battery posts look like? Pull the battery and see if the ground strap to battery (-) post is white with crust? That burst blows thru the crust, but can stop it too.

Try this. Take a straight edge razor, swipe the lead battery posts with said razor. Keep dragging the blade over the cable's touch side to the battery post. This eliminates any intermittent into the starter motor.

Starter relay will do that stuff to your bike also

My 06 has started this crap too a couple of weeks ago. All my grounds are good, going to check the relay when I get home. Battery starts at 12.4 volts, I'll see how much it changes when it goes full retard the next time.

Yeah this spring my starter began to act up... Its symptoms were EXACTLY like that of a failing battery, it only happens when the bike had been sitting for a while (over a day) and when it was cool outside (like 5C). When cranking the engine it would almost sound like the starter would cease and would instantly stop with all the lights off. I've had only once where it actually reset my clock and if I release the starter button and try it again, the engine would crank a couple of more times until the starter died. Try a 3rd time and the bike would fire up, ride to work, park it, and it would fire up right away on the way home.

Obviously I replaced the battery immediately (stock 4 year old battery) even though the battery's voltage looked good at standby and under light load (headlights). New battery didn't fix the issue, I checked the battery terminals, condition of the wiring and the connector on the starter, everything looked good.

Problem has "gone away" after the weather warmed up and I'm wondering if it'll return in the next month now that its getting cooler out again.

At this point I figure its either the starter or as Bobby mentioned, the relay. I just need the issue to be a lot more easily reproducible.

My issue was the battery had a bad cell in it. It would show 12 volts with 80% charge on the tester but when you would hit the starter it would drop to 3 volts or lower randomly and other times be 100% fine. New battery has fixed it for now.