Clicking when trying to start

[dreagus001]

The bike has been sitting for months. It had a leaking crankcase so i replaced it and got new oil and filter and spark plugs. Everything seems to be going fine until i try to start it and i get this clicking noise. Im not an expert on bikes so i wanted to ask and see if anyone knew what it could be. thanks to anyone who replies or directs me to the forum where i need to be.
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2001 Katana 600

[Gawain]

The starter motor isnt turning? Sounds like the relay is dead but also possibly jammed starter motor.

[iooi]

Starter solenoid gone.

1st thing i would do is charge the battery up. Could be its simply the battery thats not got enough juice to turn it over after being stood around.
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Just because my bike was A DIVVY, does not mean i am......

[BanditsHigh]

As the last person said ... charge your battery ... the solenoid will not engage if there is insufficient juice in the battery (that's the clicking sound) ... means it doesn't flatten the battery completely.

[veze]

you need to check the solenoid . first have a look the connections, one should come from your battery and one should come from your starter motor. on my suzuki gs, they connections got a bit corroded due to them being quite exposed to the elements, so check if they are clean. take your starter motor out of the engine, im not too familiar with ure bike, but if its a suzy parrallel twin, it will be behind the cylinders, under a little cover on top of the gear box, take the cover off and undo the 10mm bolts holding the motor to the engine. once the bolts are undone, just gently slide the motor out.
what i would do is see if the motor engages while its out of the engine.
ive heard there is a way of testing starter solenoids, by putting a screw driver across the connections on the solenoid. just with the ignition on, not pressing the starter, aparently this creates a short and makes the engine turn over. (onley if your battery is charged). but i wouldnt do anythings like that unless u were absolutley sure you knew what you were doing, have a word with a few more people on here first.
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tlm50,mt5,sr50. rs125 extrema, cbr 400rr nc29 suzuki gs500e.Honda cbx250 rs . FJ1200 .fz6,fjr1300

[el_oso]

battery. if its been sitting for months the battery will more than likely be dead. charge it and then try again. if its a smaller bike and not icy outside try bump starting it if it doesn't charge. a friend who can push while you sit on the bike usually helps but it is possible to bump a bike by yourself. I've done a GPZ500 by myself.

[Finglonga]

[dreagus001]

wellp, charged the batt over night, plugged it in and turned the key, nuthin. when i put the charger on the batt it has power but clicks. when i put the charger dirctley on the silenoid it clicks as well.
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2001 Katana 600

[Gawain]

Dead relay. Try connecting the starter wires directly to the battery with the ignition switch on and see how that goes.

[MaybeGuy]

[Cigaro]

If the bike's been stood for a bit the battery could simply be knackered.

Do you have a car/van/other bike you could jumpstart it from? If it doesn't start with a hefty set of jump leads and a car battery, THEN start suspecting something else.

[lonner]

have a look under the battery there should be a date on it if its original it will most likely be shagged.

they don't last forever 3-5yrs if your lucky


as the re-lay is clicking its should be fine .

almost certain the battery is finished as charging a knackered battery will make no difference at all as it cant hold the required charge.

so get a new one

you could try a set of jump leads first as this will eliminate the re-lay and prove that the fault is the battery hth.

[element]

i heard jump starting a bike was bad....
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[Vincent]

[Finglonga]

Lob a test meter on the battery to see if it's anywhere near 12volts.
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Andy Sez....
F.Y.Y.F.F.

[Cigaro]

[NiteMare]

right then ...

have you got a multimeter ?? as you need to have some idea of whether your battery will hold a charge ..

when i want to test a batterys likelihood of being any good i'll put it on charge for 2 or 3 days, then i'll take the charger off it and take a voltage reading immediately, which should be in the region of 13.5 - 13.8volts ...

i'll then leave it to sit a couple of days connected to nothing and take another reading, if it's dropped to 11.5 -12 volts there's every chance it's knackered you really need it to still be holding 12.5 or better to stand a chance, the starter motor could quickly pull the capacitance of the battery below 11volts which doesnt bode well for the amount of current you may want...

you could charge it whilst on the bike and try to start it immediately rather than leaving it to sit for a day or two, but when you do this you want an ordinary charger (non intelligent) that delivers at least 5amps, let it charge the battery for an hour or two then try spinning the engine over (use the kickstart if it has one)...

and finally ...

anyone that says you cannot jumpstart a bike from a car is talking absolute bollocks unless your bike has a 6v battery/system..

the thing to be a little cautious of (as believed by others) is jumpstarting your bike from a running car due to the possibility of huge surges of power from the lots more powerful alternator, again i disagree with them as i've jumped more than one of my bikes from cars over the years including my gsxr750ws and my slabby 711, both have electronically controlled ignitions, but i've always put the jump leads on and immediately hit the starter button then disconnected the leads immediately it's started running....

components in an electrical system only "draw" the current they require unless there's a "short" at which point the full capacitance of the battery goes into action and starts flowing/draining rapidly (this will still only be at the voltage that can be supplied) but what causes any damage is the current (amps) which then generates heat in the wiring and starts to rapidly burn the harness or sections of it including any delicate electrical components that may be in the path of the current or that may unfortunately get voltage pushed thru them in reverse due to wires melting and shorting together, the other thing that will generate heat in a harness is poor connections as they are a "resistance" point, that point heats up and can start melting the wire sleeving backwards into the harness ...

i regularly start my slabby on my big charger nowadays due to the battery being way beyond it's best, this charger is a pretty hi output with a "fast charge/start" position on the switch, i also use it to start my BX diesel , stick it on the car for 10 minutes on "fast charge", then let the heater plugs do thier thing, then swing it over, usually starts first time ...

that gives you an indication of how much current my big charger puts out when needed...

your little bike battery should only be charged with something like 2-3amps if using an ordinary charger, as forcing a high charge rate overheats batteries after a while creating extra damage inside the battery...

clicking of the solenoid is usually caused by the battery being flat or just low enough that the solenoid gets enough power to energise until the starter sucks some at which point there's not enough in the battery to supply both, the solenoid loses power, the plunger drops then re-engages until the starter wants more etc etc repeatedly

i hope this clears a few things up for you all, so stop taking things to bits until you've checked the simplest part first...

a 12volt battery in good condition will hold 13.5volts , a battery in poor condition will hold no more than 12volts

p.s.
just an aside, i hate daytime running lights and bikes that don't have the ability to switch them off ...

a couple of reasons for that, first if your battery is low and you can't switch them off how are you going to supply all the current you have to your starter if the lights are drawing half of it off immediately you switch the ignition on ....

second is most bikes don't have a particularly high output alternator, so if you only do short journeys (a mile or two) there's little likelihood that you'll completely replenish the battery, which in turn puts you back to the first dislike of DRL's eventually, that's also taking into account the relatively low amp/hours of a bike battery to start with...

so bike makers, please please bring back kickstarts and OFF switches
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it ain't broke...

i ain't fixed it enough

[Polarbear]

to what Nitemare said.

Jumpstart with a good car battery. If you are at all worried, dont start the car but I have never had any problems. I keep a big car battery just purely for jumpstarting any of my vehicles if needed.
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