Starts then stops

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Severian

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Feb 11, 2023
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Hi! New FJR owner here, but the bike isn't - it's a 2003 with 80,000 miles on it. Ran great for a week but very hard to start and the battery was weak (knew that goin in) so replaced the battery and the starter relay and now the bike starts fine...

Except that now it shuts off as soon as I let go of the starter button. Any thoughts on what could be causing this? I've been looking for this issue on the forum with no luck.

Thanks!
 
Fast idle not working? Will it run if you keep some throttle on? If so, hold it until it warms up and see if it will continue to run. Are you starting with no throttle? (Should)

Idle speed setting too low?

Vacuum leak?

Crap gas?

Plugged injectors?

Fuel pressure regulator?

Electrical connector somewhere?

Check secure battery cables.

Lots of stuff to check but unlikely anything awful. Good luck!
 
Tell us more about that new starter relay.
Yamaha OEM or aftermarket brand X?

Was the original starter relay malfunctioning? Or was that just a shotgun approach?
Did you take photos of the wiring connections on the original starter relay?

Might want to re-install the original starter relay for a test.

Seems like someone once reported an aftermarket starter relay being backwards oriented and had to be reversed to work properly.

dan
 
Fast idle not working? Will it run if you keep some throttle on? If so, hold it until it warms up and see if it will continue to run. Are you starting with no throttle? (Should)

Idle speed setting too low?

Vacuum leak?

Crap gas?

Plugged injectors?

Fuel pressure regulator?

Electrical connector somewhere?

Check secure battery cables.

Lots of stuff to check but unlikely anything awful. Good luck!

Thanks! It ran fine when the starter was in. It will not run at all without it. I start with no throttle and then raise it (idle to wide open has no change to whether it quits). Could be the idle speed setting, although that seems odd since it ran fine before the battery and relay change.
 
Always suspect the thing most recently messed with. Sounds like something screwy with the starter relay...
 
Tell us more about that new starter relay.
Yamaha OEM or aftermarket brand X?

Was the original starter relay malfunctioning? Or was that just a shotgun approach?
Did you take photos of the wiring connections on the original starter relay?

Might want to re-install the original starter relay for a test.

Seems like someone once reported an aftermarket starter relay being backwards oriented and had to be reversed to work properly.

dan

Thanks! It is aftermarket and we did realize to reverse it and it worked. The old one was probably fine (the battery showed good on every test but proved to just have weak output, so replacing the relay was probably redundant). I could go back in and put in the old one to check it, that would at least narrow it down.
 
I switched back to the old relay and it didn't help! Now when I press the starter I just get the fuel pressure sound and a yellow engine light. It doesn't turn over or even tick.

However, I was able to start it by crossing the screws on the relay. And it stayed started!
 
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What are the odds of two different things being a problem? Check fuses first, put the other relay back if fuses are OK and have a look at the ignition switch. They had issues for Gen I and some Gen II but don't know if I would expect that behavior or not...

Assume there are no stored fault codes?
 
A couple of years ago I replaced my battery and the start relay due to a failing battery and wanted to be proactive and replace the relay too. Somehow I bought an aftermarket relay probably not "the good aftermarket" and that relay became the failure point 6 months later. I then replaced it with OEM relay and all was good. This begs the question, which if any aftermarket relays are worth buying?
 
For Japanese bikes, I have not found any aftermarket parts that are better than OEM for critical functions related to starting, running, braking, or shifting. For racing applications I will use certain aftermarket parts (such as pistons and clutches), but they are not as reliable as OEM. However, for "American" bikes there are aftermarket products that are better and less costly than OEM. That says something about how good true Japanese bikes are. This opinion is based on several decades of working on friends and family Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki, and Harley. So far, the FJR1300 has been reliable, with lots of thoughtful designs for ease of maintenance and great performance. One of the best street bikes I've had or worked on.
 
My experience with aftermarket parts has been mostly positive, but there are exceptions. In order to afford my toys I decided long ago that I would maintain and repair them myself. Doing your own work affords you the luxury of sourcing your own parts, but sometimes saving a few dollars is simply not worth it. As #Rocket stated, sometimes OEM is just the best option, despite the extra cost. A recent example of this with electrical components was a failure of a voltage regulator in one of my snowmobiles. When it failed, the excess voltage allowed into the sled fried both headlights and melted both handwarmers, grips, and thumb warmer. All required replacing, and I decided to replace the OEM regulator with an aftermarket version from RMStator, who's products I've used successfully in past. When I installed the aftermarket regulator I found as soon as I connected the battery my gauges turned on as did my tail light, even before I turned the ignition key on. Trusting that the regulator was brand new and couldn't possibly be part of the problem I spent 2 days tracing wires thinking something else had melted and was shorting in my sled. After much aggravation and wasted time, and having not found any other obvious wiring issues, I paid twice the value of the aftermarket Reg for an OEM Reg, installed it, and everything worked perfectly. So between researching for an aftermarket part, waiting for the order to arrive, troubleshooting a phantom electrical issue, and finally making the trip to my local dealership for the oem part, I lost nearly 2 weeks of riding, in an attempt to save about $140, in a sport where we may only have 2-3 months to enjoy. Had I gone right to the oem part I would have been out of action for only 2 days, and avoided alot of aggravation. It hasn't swayed me from the use of aftermarket, but it has certainly affected my trust in "New" parts, especially in the electrical department.
 
I realized the previous relay was also aftermarket and checked the one my son had ordered and it was 02-00 and not 00-00, so I got the right one, put it in, and now it starts every time! Thanks, everyone!
 

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