2005 won't start

[kudzufarmer]

hey everybody;

have an issue that i need some help and ideas on....changed out battery with correct new battery,,,,,have left on maintainer all night and maintainer shows good.....try to start and all i get is a couple of flickers of lights on the speedo.....the needle will go over to full scale and then back.......i can hear the fuel pump turn on, run and turn off....if leaving the key on, the gas gauge will also come on......all wires hooked up correctly........i can hear the starter click once, and then nothing else............any ideas would be appreciated......also ignition fuse good.

[Cajunrider]

Being you are hearing the starter click, my thought is there is a loose connection (ground or hot) somewhere in the starting circuit.

[Todd]

Agree. Check the main ground to the frame or starter connects if you have not already.

[cnc]

It is also possible that the maintainer is not doing what you think it is and your new battery is not as charged as it indicates. It has been my experience that maintainers are good at maintaining charged batteries, but not always so good at charging low ones. The maintainer could be getting a false Reading from surface charging and going into float mode before the battery is really charged. If checking battery cable connections does not solve the problem, I would unplug the maintainer from the battery and wait a few hours after a load or charge has been applied to the battery. Then test the battery with a volt meter. A fully charged battery will read around 12.7 volts. If the reading is close to 12 volts or below a charge on a better battery charger is needed.

[dank]

I had a drained battery, put it on the battery tender for 24 hours, and had just the same symptoms you have. Enough power to light a few things up and get some clicks, but not to start the bike. I second cnc. Make sure the battery is charged. (I used a jumper to start mine at that point and had no more problems.)

[tinskeep]

Same here as well. The lights evidently don't take much but when you hit the starter the flicker,and one tap on the starter and it's done

[garyo4]

Agreed, a battery maintainer and a battery charger are two completely different animals.

[ringadingh]

Id check the battery and starter connections. You could try to boost the bike and see if it starts then, that should determine if you have a weak battery and or bad connection.

[kudzufarmer]

this has turned out to be a strange one......i charged (with a charger)the battery and was reading full voltage with a volt meter......good voltage on the battery............reinstalled the battery, and then the symptoms above......recharged the old battery and reinstalled....everything worked fine and the bike started......old battery would not hold a charge, but would be good for a little while after charging......i guess i have a bad battery, but what would make the battery show good charge and then nothing after install?

[cnc]

How long did you wait after charging the battery to check the voltage? Checking right after it comes off the charger will give a false high reading. Sounds like the new battery may have a bad cell. Is it sealed, if not do you have a hydrometer to check the specific gravity of the individual cells? Or maybe you can get it load tested.

[kudzufarmer]

it was actually showing higher voltage than the old battery before I started charging it.......the battery is sealed AGM....it sounds like a bad cell to me also......I tried jumping earlier from a car battery and it would not turn over the bike except fopr a few times and then quit...so I thinks i gots me a bad battery

[cnc]

Hope you can take it back. Let us know how it all turns out.

[macmac]

Where is the new battery now? If it is in the bike still hook up the volt meter right to it, get that reading. Make ready to start the engine in neutral clutch lever In, key Kill to ON key to ON, press the start button and take a reading.

If you get less that 10.5 dc volts and i think you will get 0 dcv you got a new dead battery.

This will drop the reading on the meter as if you turned it off.
If it is annalog you can have fun zipping the needle all over the scales... Looks like a boat anchor from here.

[kudzufarmer]

follow nup ...it was a bad battery and they have agreed nto take it back with no problems......had it load tested and it was a bad battery.

[macmac]

If you had the meter you would have seen that load test fail with the press of the start button.