Intermittent Bike Won't Start Help Thread

For what it's worth, on my '94 ST, it got so it would just die sometimes when I hit a bump. Usually it would start right back up, but I quit trusting it. I knew something was loose so I started tracing wires and it turned out to be a green plug up in the dash on the right hand side. One of the connectors inside the actual plug had pulled loose and would stop making connection when it got jarred. I believe this connection is the one that goes to the kill switch on the right handle bar, so it would basically disconnect the ignition. Once I replaced that plug I've never had a problem again. A similar plug is located on the left side of the bike and goes to the kickstand kill switch.
 
I think MOST LIKELY causes of the symptoms you had are: 1- Battery connections 2-starter switch 3-Start relay connector 4-Battery.

You turned the key on, everything lit up fine, most likely had at least 12 volts. Hit the starter button and it completes the circuit through the starter solenoid. Whether the solenoid clicked or not, there was a demand for more current in the circuit but because the circuit could not handle the load, it broke contact (wherever the issue was at) and all power was lost including dash lights and head light. Then after you did whatever you did for 10 minutes it started right up with no issue.

My money is that it was a connection at the battery and when you were fussing around trying to figure out why it wouldn't start you pulled or pushed on a wire connected at the battery and it caused it to shift ever so slightly and made full contact. You may never have this problem again. I can't tell you how many motorcycles, cars, and heavy equipment I have assisted that this was the only issue they had. Wiggle the connection around to free whatever debris was in the way, retighten, and off you go. You may be chasing an issue that is already gone. The starter switch will cause the same symptoms if it is just starting to have issue. I had to replace mine on my ST1100 for the same symptoms. Starter relay is well documented here. Definitely check that. Even though the battery is only 2 years old, it could be the battery. Some little bit of debris that has worked loose from the plates causing a short between plates. I had one cause the same symptom, but when I pulled the caps (yes you can still pull the caps even on a maintenance free battery) it was dry as a bone in there. But that will not recover, and since yours did recover that wouldn't be my top suspect. Batteries don't recharge themselves in the parking lot. Key switch, kick stand switch etc may cause issues with starting the bike, but the sequence of symptoms doesn't really match those switches.

99% it was a bad connection somewhere that "healed" itself somehow at least temporarily.
 
This way of thinking is where my mind is at, Joel. I just remembered at one point I felt like in the parking lot I did something like turning the bars or something mundane that made everything go from dead to lighted but dead again when hitting the starter button. It was weird, like I did something noticeable but couldn't figure out what it was because I wasn't actively attempting anything. Doing a bit of searching prior threads suggests I take a look at the connectors to the ignition switch and the right controls to make sure things look okay.

But here's my update. The yellow wire you can't see in the photo is fine. I pulled the connector and it looked a bit corroded, but just lightly dusted so to speak, so I cleaned things up and added some silicon grease. Battery connections are tight and clean and greased.

I'll check some of the other suggested connections later, but for now I'm going to run the battery down to OReilly so they can do a load test and potentially eliminate one variable. I am planning to do the ignition relay bypass this winter, so assuming I have a good battery installed I'll probably hold off on tearing things apart to check the buried connections for now.
 
The parts store says the battery is good, so I'll probably poke around at the connectors at the bars and ignition switch this afternoon as a start. I'll get the bypass parts ordered up and I'll check the rest of the potential connections when I dig into that job.

Hopefully not an ongoing thing to deal with, but I sure do appreciate the time everyone took to share their thoughts and experiences. If I find anything that looks suspect, I'll report back.
 
When my start switch went out on the right switch gear, I found that if I wiggled up and down on the switch while pushing in on it, it would sometimes start.
 
Smudgemo said:
I'll probably hold off on tearing things apart to check the buried connections for now.
Click to expand...
Is that the voice of experience?

One thing you might do is "Give the Kill switch a workout"
Key off , switch the Kill switch 10+ times to clean up the contacts a little.
Better would be to open the control and clean the switch contacts.
 
I did open the left side when I got the bike in August because the hi/lo worked intermittently, and the signals function was stiff. I cleaned out old grease, sprayed it with contact cleaner then gave the turn signal button a bit of silicon grease, and everything worked perfectly.
I suppose no reason not to give the right side a look. At least if it goes bad I won't need to fish the wires through the bar for connection inside the headlight like my '76 CB..
 
Another place to check for intermittent problems are the plug-in connections under the tank shelter that are directly in front of the air cleaner assembly. These are where the ignition switch and handlebar switches route through. I have seen a number of times where a single connector pin will come loose as well as overheated connections or simply have the connections work apart.
 
Smudgemo said:
I did some searching but I'm not sure how to ask the Great Gazoogle on this one. Yesterday I went to run some errands on my '96 1100, sunny day, 60*, started fine and made it to my first destination about 15-20 minutes from home. Started fine for the trip over to Home Depot about ten minutes away. I'm ready to leave and my wife calls and says get home quick, so I go to start the bike and it declines.

Something loose or intermittent seems to be at play. I can't recall the exact series of events, but it involved all the dash lights not working, then working but dying when trying the starter button (this included the clock.) I assumed the battery had died because the starter never kicked in, but at one point I turned the key and everything worked as it normally does and the bike fired right up. This was over the course of five minutes or so, so not much additional cooling down would have occurred.

The battery is under two years old if the PO was accurate, and the connections should be good as I just cleaned/silicon greased them a couple of weeks ago when I installed heated grips. I keep it on a charger in the garage, and it has never once failed to turn over. Seat of the pants testing with the tender shows the flashing green light that moves to solid green fairly quickly when I get home and plug it in, so no big drains that are obvious.

So I'm trying to figure out where to start. I've got designs on doing the ignition bypass mod at some point this winter, but I don't have the parts on hand at the moment, and obviously not going to fix anything if that's not the problem.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
I am having a similar problem where I ride for about 20 Miles then the lights on the dash go out and the bike dies on side of the road. the lights come back on in the bike starts. I personally checked the fuses and the 30 amp fuse on the ignition relay had blown once replaced bike seems to work. I personally have not figured out why the ignition relay is overheating and blowing the fuse so hopefully someone reads this and can help.
 
ST1100Y said:
Out of interest:
just how long had you ignored/not inspected that area/connection till it finally failed and ended up as shown? ;)
Click to expand...
That's sort of an unfair question. You shouldn't have to inspect or maintain wiring connections. Honda screwed the pooch on this one. If someone doesn't know that, why should they think to look there? Until it actually melted, there probably wasn't anything to see, either.
 
FWIW, not so much as a hiccup since that day. I have the parts en route to do the relay modification, and I figure that's when I'll pull the connectors near the handlebars to check for any corrosion or damage.
Today was new gear oil day for the final drive.
 
ST1100Y said:
Out of interest:
just how long had you ignored/not inspected that area/connection till it finally failed and ended up as shown?
Click to expand...
Hi Martin,
That’s not my ST1100. A bit of a sad story. That ST belonged to Ken Robitaille, STOC 1962, of Windsor, ON. He was enroute to WeSTOC XI at Golden, CO, in 2006 when his ST1100 fell on him in the parking lot of the Iowa Welcome Center just off I-80 near LeClaire overlooking the Mississippi. A few miles from my home. Broke his leg badly, trapped under the bike for some time in terrible pain before help arrived. He had surgery/hospital in Rock Island across the river. He was still there when I got back from WeSTOC and recovered the ST to my house. It cut out a couple of times on me enroute. I figured out the problem quickly, took the picture and did the repair. Eventually Ken got a medevac home and I agreed to store his ST at my house until....
Sadly, Ken died of an apparent heart attack a short time later after suffering a stroke, and I ended up shipping the poor ST via Atlas to his friends in the Bonneville streamliner project he was part of. He had no next of kin. He’d lived a heck of a life... hard-core m/c club rider, solo open-water sailor, cancer survivor.

John
 
Last edited:
OkieRider said:
That's sort of an unfair question. You shouldn't have to inspect or maintain wiring connections.
Click to expand...
Ah! STrong objection there... !
Especially on odd weather water spray and dew gets just everywhere...
So just as the switch-pods will every essential connection require an inspection and corrosion inhibit treatment every now and then...
 
Never had to check electricals on any of my prior bikes. Ever. This is just a failing on Honda's part with this machine.
 
Dang, I was going to get groceries and the bike was balking again. Sometimes the key will get the lights to come on, sometimes not. The clock shows the time until I hit the starter and then dead. Sounds like there's some clicking at the left side near the battery/fuses. At least it's in the garage and not the parking lot of Sprouts.
I think I have all the pieces for a relay bypass operation + some connector checking while the plastic is off, work is probably keeping me out of the garage until next week, but I need to get this sorted. Every wonder what a seller experienced and didn't mention?
 
Smudgemo said:
The clock shows the time until I hit the starter and then dead.
Click to expand...
From my personal experience that’s the red wire at the main relay. The simplest solution is to separate the wires out of the female part of the red connector. Make sure you have a photo of the placement of the wires in the connector. Splice a new red wire into the existing one making sure the splice is in a clean section of the red wire. Connect the wires to the proper terminals as per photo. This is a quick and easy solution and as good as the basic red wire bypass and will last the season if not more. (I’ve done that method twice, once on my 90 and once on my 97). This operation can be accomplished in a half hour.
 
kiltman said:
From my personal experience that’s the red wire at the main relay.
Click to expand...
This seems to be the most common cause reported when the clock is on until the starter is activated, then goes off.

If this isn't the cause, then its some other loose connection/corrosion on the main electrical path that needs to be tracked down. The clock pulls very small current, like 1mA, so its able to work all by itself because it doesn't create any significant voltage drop from the battery through the rest of the electrical system. As soon as the starter is pressed the current flow becomes very high and the resistance in the path x the current creates a massive voltage drop and everything downstream is dead.

Smudgemo said:
Sometimes the key will get the lights to come on, sometimes not.
Click to expand...
this is also consistent with a large, but intermittent voltage drop. I haven't had to do the red-wire bypass on mine fortunately, so I don't know if it can be intermittent like this or if it tends to be a hard failure.

Since you said your battery checked out OK, we can probably rule that out, unless it has an intermittent failure mode. A simple way to rule out the battery is to connect it to a car battery with jumper cables, but don't start the car. If the cables are connected securely and the problem persists, then you can rule out the battery.
 
I know most of the folks on this forum find the diagnosing and offering of advice to be fun, but I do want to again say thank you for the help.

I'm presently slogging through a few more crunch days of work that keeps a roof over my head, but I'm dying to get to the garage and start pulling things apart. It's just not an okay feeling to go anywhere and wonder if I'll need a tow to get home.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom