Has this happened to anyone else on the forum? I used the Bonneville last Thursday and Friday but not over the weekend - went to start it on Monday and nothing. The lights came on, the warning lights came on and the dials did their usual sweep back and forth. It was in neutral,the kill switch was off and I pulled the clutch in but got nothing at all - not even a click or a whirring sound. Tried three times and it started fine on the last attempt and then subsequently twice more after stopping and starting up on the run. The engine malfunction light stayed on though. Same thing happened yesterday - nothing at all then started on the fourth go and again no problems starting whilst out and about. Engine malfunction light went out whilst riding. Just tried starting it now and it was fine - no engine light either. Any thoughts?
Hi Steve, do you keep the bike on an Optimate or similar? In this colder weather any weakness in the battery is shown up very quickly. With the EFi Bonnies, if the battery is below a certain figure (not very low) then the ECU will not allow the start motor to be activated. A figure of 12.5v comes to mind. An easy way to test for battery weakness is to use jumpstart cables onto a known god battery. If you connect to a car battery DO NOT have the car engine running, just use the power in the cars battery. If the Bonny fires up first time, you know your bike battery needs charging/replacing. Have you checked your sidestand and clutch switches? Also the start relay can play up. A fault on any of these will give the symptoms you describe. Have you got a multimeter to check the switches?
Hi steve, this has happened to me once since I have owned the bike, and like you I was confused as to why it wouldn`t start, not sure what it can be, I carried out a few obvious checks like you have, pushed on the spark plug caps etc checked kill switch but everything seemed okay. Haven`t had the problem since touch wood, be interesting if someone can shed some light on what the potential problem could be.
Hi Steve , see engine won't start ecu cut out, the relay is likely the culprit as dirt or water can get into it causing intermittent starting fault, ecu detects voltage drop because relay is shorting or dirty points won't allow full current flow.
Cheers Dave - I will check the side stand and clutch switches and get a reading on the battery. It hasn't been on charge since I got the bike as it is used almost daily. I have heard that the starter relay can give problems and the ignition switch itself is prone to internal corrosion - may also check this out.
Quick update: I only have a basic circuit tester but the needle went straight to maximum (which is 12v on it's scale). Multi-meter for Christmas me thinks! I have a Noco Genius charger (similar to an Optimate) which I could leave connected. It has 25, 50, 75 and 100% indicator lights and the bike only showed 75% at first - so this will need watching as the bike was used yesterday. Checked the relay connections - the thing still looks brand new and the terminals are tight and corrosion free - they still have the original anti-corrosion gel on them. Checked all other terminals and connectors by the battery and nearly got stung by a huge bloody wasp hiding in there! (It has since been introduced to the underside of my motorcycle boot). Bike started fine.
Plus mine is always hooked up to the optimate4, mine came with the adaptor lead whereby you connect it to the battery and then you can just unplug or plug in as required without constantly having to take the seat off to hook it up to the battery, when I am using the bike I just tuck it up out of the way,does that make sense?
If you get yourself that multi-meter (about £15) you can check for any resistance across the starter relay which would indicate it's for the bin. I'm a numpty when it comes to electrics really but I watched a video just the other day which covered this. The wires of the multi-meter will have some resistance (say 0.3 ohm), anymore than that going through the relay is not on.
Yes mate - in fact I've just done the same with my Genius charger as it came with a similar adaptor lead. Getting the seat off a Bonnie is a pain at the best of times!
