Stuck on the Road

Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum

Help Support Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

arg

Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
11
Reaction score
5
Location
Tuttle, OK
Stopped to check my phone with the engine running and put it in gear with the kickstand down. If course it died. Turned it off, then back on,. Nothing. Seems like ignition is fried. Dials sweep if I connect the battery but ignition does nothing. Any ideas?

Fuses all look good.

Fuses all look good.

 
Try starting it in neutral (make sure kill switch isn't in the off position). It should start even if the sidestand is down (or the sidestand switch is messed up). If it starts and then dies when you put it in gear than the sidestand switch needs to be bypassed (or fixed). Clutch switch could be an issue when starting in gear (sidestand up) but should be OK to start in neutral and won't kill the engine when you shift into gear.

Short of the above, make sure that the key is turned all the way to the right and try wiggling the key in the ignition a little. Have you had the ignition switch recall done on this bike? Are you sure the battery is OK and the battery terminal conections are clean and snug? Sometimes a weak battery will sweep the gauges but do nothing to start the bike.

 
Turning ignition on does nothing. No lights gauges or anything. Kill switch must have killed everything. Cavalry is o on the way, just have to wait a couple hours. At least it's only 80 and not 100 like yesterday.

 
I saw where you got gauge sweep when you connected the battery but I didn't get that NOTHING happens with turning the key on. (Didn't read very carefully.)

Sounds like ignition switch is FUBAR. Was the recall done on it? (I think 2008 was in the recall range - my '07 was)

Hope you get running soon!

Please post back with the eventual diagnosis and fix.

Good luck.

 
Pretty sure the ignition recall was done before I bought the bike-had the spider done after. Anyway, after dragging it home, the ignition at least turned on. Acts like a dead battery now.

Of course, I'm sure it will fire right up if I leave it on the charger a while. I hate this kind of stuff.

Haven't been on the forum in ages, and it's great to see vaguely familiar names trying to help
smile.png
You guys are great. Thanks!!!

Edit-yep, ignition recall done in Apr 2009.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
How old is battery? Bike regular ridden e.g. at least every third day? Battery tender or no? Pull battery test battery at NAPA or wherever? Buy a car battery and strap it on the luggage rack?
default_rofl.gif
Or maybe get a trailer and Honda generator.


I mean YAMAHA generator!
punk.gif


 
Even with ignition switch having been recalled at this point it's still a 10 year old switch that's been used countless times. I would start with checking the battery but if it tests good check the switch.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I agree with most of the opinions stated so far. BUT, if you haven't found an answer yet, hear me out.

A couple summers ago, I was having intermittent starting problems, and occasional weird electrical stuff, like the gauges would die, then sweep back up, ABS light came on once, things like that. I was thinking ground spider. Several times during trips, I would turn the key, the gauges would light up, and when I hit the starter button, everything went dead. Then, after a few more tries, it would fire up. Couldn't figure it out.

After one ride when it happened about 4 times during the day, I was pissed off. When I got home, I tore into the bike. Checked fuses, and they were OK. I removed the battery, and checked the cable ends and ring terminals, and they looked fine. Then, out of curiosity, I looked at the screws and nuts from the battery posts. I held a screw in my hand, and wound the nut on to the screw. Halfway up the screw, I couldn't tighten the nut anymore. The screw threads near the top of the screw had some sort of galvanic corrosion gunk built up in the threads, keeping the nut from going further. The frustrating thing is that when it was being tightened on the battery terminal, it got hard to turn near the end, as if it was tightening on the terminal, but obviously it wasn't. I used two new screws and nuts (guy at Batteries Plus let me dig through a big box of many that he had there, and take what I needed, including an extra set), and I haven't had a problem since.

It may not be the source of your problem, but the symptoms sound eerily similar to mine, and it's a really easy thing to check. Good luck.

 
I would second the recommendation that you may just have a loose battery connection. Sometimes it's the connection at the other end of the wire that comes off the battery though.

 
Update-it turned out to be the battery-at least it fired right up with a new one. I tried charging the old one/jumping it, etc. and never got it to crank.

Weird though, I had stopped/restarted 4 or 5 times before it died and had no indication, dragging starter, etc., of a problem beforehand. I've always sensed a battery problem before I was stuck somewhere.

 
Catastrophic battery failure can hit without warning. Open cell most likely. I hope that's all it was but keep an eye on the ignition key switch.

 
<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="arg" data-cid="1422361" data-time="1564448556"><p>

Update-it turned out to be the battery-at least it fired right up with a new one. I tried charging the old one/jumping it, etc. and never got it to crank.<br />

<br />

Weird though, I had stopped/restarted 4 or 5 times before it died and had no indication, dragging starter, etc., of a problem beforehand. I've always sensed a battery problem before I was stuck somewhere.</p></blockquote>

The EXACT same thing happened to me a couple weeks ago. Bike started and ran fine. I parked it and when I went back out, I could only get a few random gauge sweeps. Thankfully I knew my battery was tired so didn't stress it too much, but I totally didn't expect it to die like that.

Glad you're back up and running!

 
I have yet to fully understand batteries in both cars and bikes. I have been stranded more than once by a battery that seemed just peachy one minute and dead as a doornail the next. I replace my bike battery every four years with the best one I can find. The AGM models seem to work the best. Hope all continues well for the OP.

 
Top