Hi all, On my return to Dear Old Blighty, I connected the battery to the FE (which had been sporadically on and off an Optimate.) On turning the ignition to P, I had bright idiot lights and fully functioning headlight and rear light. However on turning the ignition on, there were extremely week idiot lights, no sound from the fuel pump and no chance of the engine turning over. Nada! A local mechanic tested the battery and confirmed it was in fine fettle which has been confirmed by the parking lights functioning. Has anyone any ideas please? Appreciate the help. Regards, Richie.
can be so many things, but if you work your way through all the relevant live/earth connectors and junctions, you might find some "light" corrosion in one or two - there is a daft, O.E.M. earth eyelet on the front subframe that uses a Wellnut to secure it.. I can't remember how relevant this would be to your problem as i think it only earths the regulator and has hopefully been improved by now. If you are certain that battery is fine, then worth checking all battery leads are in good fettle - the earth under the battery box can become loose/corrode. If you can, run power leads directly to the fuel pump just to test it's working as depending on how long bike has sat, it could be seized/corroded by now.
Try a booster pack or another battery. Mine showed as being fully charged but wouldn’t turn the bike over. Booster pack started it immediately. I think the batteries degrade in a way that allows them to show a good voltage but not be able to deliver the current required. I am looking at either an AGM or Li-ion battery but will wait until spring to get one.
It is worth noting that the pump will run backwards and forwards, so it is possible to break a stuck pump free by reversing the connections, thus ‘rocking’ the motor back and forth until it breaks free and turns. It won’t work however if it’s too far gone
It may well be that the mechanic is spot on and the battery is fine, but for me it’s always worth ruling out the obvious (and simplest to check) before delving any deeper. I have had it a few times over the years on bikes that don’t do a lot of miles where they show a decent voltage but it drops like a stone once load is applied. I usually put a multimeter across the battery while trying to crank the engine over but it’s a bit fiddly on the SS so just used a small jump pack I have.
i guess it's cos i is old school and only test batteries for amps even after volts appear ok - no battery of mine ever slips through the net, no siree.
Thanks all for your comments and suggestions. When I get back to Blighty, I'll investigate further. Taking the fuel pump and turning the engine over out of the equation for a second, what puzzles me most is that on turning the key to the P setting, I get super bright dash lights and the headlight and rear light work well. But on turning the ignition on, the dash lights are almost too faint to see. Why would the brightness of the dash lights vary so much between the two differing key positions. Is it because the battery is being asked to do more on the ignition setting than on the P setting? Sorry for the daft questions but, I am from Malaga, I know nuthing... NUTHING!
A dead battery will generate all kinds of funcky stuff on a motor vehicle… Testing the battery by: - replacing it by one coming from a bike that starts and runs good; - jump starting it from another vehicle; - using a booster as previously mentioned. … is the best and simplest way to start your trouble shooting.
Perhaps a stuck fuel pump is drawing too much current dragging the electrics down. Pull the fuse for the fuel pump and try ignition on again.
