2003 ST1300 cranks but won't start.

[TerryS]

Just to mention it, the rings are spacers, but do not negate the need to trim the two lower tabs.

I used them when I put LED bulbs in my '96 ST. They're supposed to improve the beam pattern.

You are quite correct; the tabs still have to go. The adapter rings will pull the bulb back into the reflector a little (<1mm); I haven't thought too hard about this but my sense is that would narrow the beam spread a touch but probably not change the vertical orientation. Anyway, that's what headlight adjustment screws are for.

 

[Brownie45]

Apparently I still have an intermittent problem. Everything worked fine last Friday as i rode to our meeting place before we were to leave for a ride up to Congress, AZ for lunch. When we went to leave the bike would crank but did not start. I unplugged the headlights and it started. So I rode with the group without headlights. The 2 LED pea lights are quite bright and they work just fine. When i replaced the melted headlight plugs with the new ones i got from Autozone my friend Bob soldered them to the original wiring harness(green to black, blue to red, white to yellow)and of course all worked fine for a while. I am assuming the green wire on the original harness is the ground, so now thinking i should run a ground wire to a bolt on the engine or frame to solve this intermittent problem. Any suggestions/recommendations??? Andrew asked if I had checked the grounds mentioned earlier. I am not sure how to properly check these, although I did clean the 24-pin connector and cleaned the ground at rear of fuel tank. ...Brownie

 

[DannoXYZ]

Measure resistance from grn ground-terminal at light-bulb socket to battery -neg terminal. This will test all wiring, terminals, bolts, etc. in between.

Darn, I was just out there at AMP track this last weekend. Could’ve checked it out for you. Need to look at that start button.

 

[Mellow]

Are the headlights turning off when you hit the starter? They should, to allow enough juice to start the bike. Could be a gunked-up right hand switch, spraying some contact cleaner in there will help with that. Also, is your battery good?

Usually, when something is wrong, it has something to do with that last thing I was working on... lol.. so it could by the wiring on the headlights as you stated so another good path to check.

 

[Brownie45]

Yes i cleaned the start switch. Sprayed with wd40 electrical cleaner too. It looks good. if the headlights come on as they have in the past they go out when i press the start button and the engine starts. I installed new battery last week. Thanks Danno and Mellow for the tips.

 

[Brownie45]

i checked headlight ground to neg battery post and get 1.3 and a buzz on my gauge when it is set on 200 ohms. this happens on both left and right headlight plugs.

 

[Andrew Shadow]

Just as an F.Y.I., an ohmeter provides an incomplete test result. It indicates whether or not there is continuity, but it doesn't indicate whether the circuit is capable of carrying the current it needs to.

i.e. If a wire having 100 strands of conductor is damaged and only a few strands of the conductor are still intact, an ohmeter will show continuity. However, with the majority of the strands broken, that wire will not be able to carry the full load of that circuit.

For your symptoms the failure, and repair, that you see in the below thread is often the cause of what you are experiencing. Even if it is not in your case, it is good preventative maintenance to do this anyway to prevent a potential future failure. At minimum you will eliminate this possibility. There is another connector behind the right headlamp that suffers the same ground terminal failure. A similar fix can be done to bypass the overheated terminal. You do not need to eliminate the Honda ground wire to do this fix. You can add the additional ground wire in addition to it to supplement it.

Fixed my electrical problem (headlights, dash lites,horn, turn signals, windshield) | ST1300 Related

60 miles from home yesterday the ground circuit problem happened again. The bike quit at a stop sign and from then on basically nothing electrical in the front half of the bike worked and the bike would not start with high beams on. The engine would start and run with the headlight dip switch on...

www.st-owners.com

 

[DannoXYZ]

Yes, meters are high-ohm/low-current devices to not interfere with circuit it’s testing. Additional reading of voltage-drop on particular ground terminal will determine if it‘s flowing sufficient current.

 

[MattSTlouis]

Could be the battery. I just replaced one that would turn the engine over fine but would not start the bike. Spent about an hour messing with and it metered out at 12.28 volts. Got a $38 chinese battery off amazon and it fired right up.

 

[Brownie45]

Well everything worked fine for a few days, then back to the same problems. Obviously I'm not very good a finding electrical glitches. My friend Bob came over and soldered another ground wire to the green wire from the 24 pin plug on the left side of the tank. It worked fine again with the seat off. Then I installed the seat and same problems---starts good when headlights are disconnected, but only cranks no start when seat is in place. So I re-routed some wires that seemed to be touching the bottom of the seat and all was well for a few days, then same problem ... seems like an intermittent problem. So i plan to take all the plastics off and try to find the issue....switch?...ground? ...relay? Anyway, thank you all for your tips.

 

[DannoXYZ]

again, take apart start-button. Headlight power goes through it. Wires inside often gets broken off due to movement of button

 

[Brownie45]

Thanks Danno, l have had the start button apart earlier and all looked good, but will take another look to see if i missed the problem.

 

[DannoXYZ]

Measure resistance between all start-button wires. Should have zero between headlight wires. Infinite resistsnce between starter wires. And infinite resistance between headlight to starter wires.

Then press start-button and measure again. Now you should have zero resistance between starter wires. Infinite resistance between headlight wires. And infinite resistance between headlight to starter wires.

From VFR diagram, colours may be different. But same circuit. Somewhere, your headlight-power is touching where it shouldn't be.

 

[Igofar]

Remove the seat and inspect the large wire loom that goes under the bar on the frame.
The wires can be damaged underneath this bundle and grounding on the frame.
Remove the zip tie and raise it up and inspect the bottom side of the harness.

 

[DannoXYZ]

The lights staying on with key off also points towards ground-block issues. Take cap off and look at bus-bar and terminals. Most likely corroded and burnt. Might be pink connector with green wires on your bike similar to this.



Best to disassemble, clean off terminals really well and solder on new ground-wire to bus-bar.






Then run ground-wire directly to ring-terminal clamped to frame.



Similar threads:

Lights stay on when ignition switch in Off, bike won't start | ST1300 Related

It looks like beefing up these grounds should be a pretty standard modification to a ST1300 - am I right? My ground cap looked exactly like the one in post 89. Ran a thick green wire to the bike frame from the yellow ground cap and the problem has never reoccured.

www.st-owners.com

Electrical issues 2007 ST1300 | ST1300 Related

Has anyone seen this before?

www.st-owners.com

 

[Terminator2]

Brownie45. IgoFar was referring to the following (pic of my main harness) near lower fuel tank.

 

[Brownie45]

Thank all of you for your suggestions. I think i may have the problem corrected. I attached a new ground wire to the left headlight socket ground wire and then attached the new ground wire to a bolt on the frame. So far everything works fine, headlights, hi-low beams, signals, hazards, etc. It starts up almost instantly. I have had it out for several small trips for a total of about 90 miles since Friday. It's been awhile to get back to working on it, but i very much appreciate all the replies to my problem. Hope all continues to work good. Planning to have new tires and brake pads installed this week as my brother and I are planning to take about a 5000 mile fund raising tour for Park Creek Bible Camp in Northern California and we want to be sure both bikes are in top shape for the ride. Thanks again! ....Brownie