Help desperately needed - test tomorrow and bike won't start

cowie86 · L Plate Warrior Joined: 31 Jul 2017 Karma :

Hello,

I'm praying someone will have some advice here. I have a Sinnis 125 Scramber (Suzuki 125GS engine) that I'm meant to be taking my Mod 1 and Mod 2 tests for my A1 licence on tomorrow and Thursday. The bike has always run fine until this weekend. This is the problem I am having.

As I say, the bike has run fine for months, I rode it home from work on Friday night without a problem and then it was left out in quite heavy rain for a few hours. When I came to start it later that evening then the starter was running okay but I was having to hold the ignition switch down for quite a long time before the engine kicked in properly. After that it was stalling very easily. I kept trying until the I was only getting an electrical buzzing when I pressed down the ignition switch.

At this point I thought the problem was caused by getting so wet and that I had run the battery down by holding the ignition switch in so much. I put the bike in the garage, put a charger on the battery and left it to dry off and charge over night.

When I came back to it on Saturday afternoon I was getting absolutely nothing when I pressed the ignition switch. The battery was fully charged, the horn and lights all work, but I'm not getting a a single sound from anything when I press the start button now.

It's too late to re-book my tests now without having to pay for them both again and there's nowhere in the area that can rent me a bike so I'm truly up sh*t creek if I can't get this sorted.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly, greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

James

P. · Red Rocket Joined: 14 Feb 2008 Karma :

Where you at...

arry · Super Spammer Joined: 03 Jan 2009 Karma :

Got a multimeter?

First, check fuses - the 'new' problem with the starter not engaging could be that it's simply not getting power because of a blown fuse.

Check the ignition switch itself with the multimeter. Check the starter has power when the switch is pressed.

UrbanRacer · World Chat Champion Joined: 26 Jul 2005 Karma :

Can you fucking bump start the bastard?

..... · Quote Me Happy Joined: 15 Jan 2005 Karma :

Ghetto fix first - Get some WD40 and spray it everywhere, not on brakes and tyres obviously, including spark plug area and plug cap etc.

cowie86 · L Plate Warrior Joined: 31 Jul 2017 Karma :

P. · Red Rocket Joined: 14 Feb 2008 Karma :

Too far for myself, however echo the WD40.

Make sure the battery is fully charged. WD40 the ignition itself, the button, the coil/HT lead and the spark plug area.

Test if ignition then works. Try bump starting, ignition on, pop in 2nd, side stand up and clutch in. Run with bike and jump on it whilst letting the clutch out.

Bang your arse on the seat hard and give it a tiny bit of throttle, do it in the open, not near parked cars and shit.

cowie86 · L Plate Warrior Joined: 31 Jul 2017 Karma :

arry · Super Spammer Joined: 03 Jan 2009 Karma :

So the starter solenoid is receiving power? If so, has he tried bridging the solenoid?

cowie86 · L Plate Warrior Joined: 31 Jul 2017 Karma :

P. · Red Rocket Joined: 14 Feb 2008 Karma :

Disconnecting the side stand isn't always a great idea, bridging it might be, depends on the model really as some work differently.

cowie86 · L Plate Warrior Joined: 31 Jul 2017 Karma :

DrSnoosnoo · World Chat Champion Joined: 28 Mar 2012 Karma :

I'm busy tonight or I could have helped, I'm in Yeadon.

When you say the battery is fully charged, how do you know?
When I killed my battery(ies) on my ZZR the charger was green, saying fully charged but that was only at 11.5 V - This would not even think of starting the bike, any load and the voltage would plummet although the lights and stuff would work. I would expect to see >= 12.5 V from a "good" battery. - Multimeter!

Got a car? Connect the car battery with some jump leads. If you don't have any, come to me and borrow mine. InB4 "nevar jmp frm a car m8". Don't have the engine of the car running.
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grr666 · Super Spammer Joined: 16 Jun 2014 Karma :

I jumped our scoot after it's winter layaway from our Suzuki Swift and amazingly everybody involved survived including
both vehicles.
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cowie86 · L Plate Warrior Joined: 31 Jul 2017 Karma :

DrSnoosnoo · World Chat Champion Joined: 28 Mar 2012 Karma :

cowie86 · L Plate Warrior Joined: 31 Jul 2017 Karma :

cowie86 · L Plate Warrior Joined: 31 Jul 2017 Karma :

Kawasaki Jimbo · World Chat Champion Joined: 09 Oct 2015 Karma :

raystone · Two Stroke Sniffer Joined: 21 Feb 2016 Karma :

I've had a very similar problem. The battery read 12.5v, so I thought it's not the battery.

The kicker was when I turned over the motor, the starter motor all ran off fine, but the voltage actually dropped to 6v or so. That's way, way too low.

So, you've said the 12.5v do not change when the starter motor engages, that's a bit strange – it should start jumping around a bit (depending on multi-meter). Make sure you haven't clicked the HOLD button on the multi-meter, it may just hold the highest reading!

I put my money on the battery, too. Halfords does have them, and you may even have a chance to return them, I asked nicely and had my scooter parked right in front of the shop. The guy said I should try if it starts with the battery he sold me, if not, I'll be able to return it.

Kickstart · The Oracle Joined: 04 Feb 2002 Karma :

Hi

When you turn the ignition on, do you get the neutral light / etc on?

When you press the starter button do you get any clicks? The starter relay should click (it is in effect an electrically operated switch). If it doesn't click then use the multimeter to check if the relay is being triggered.

The relay will have 2 big wires going to it, one to the battery and one to the starter motor (you can carefully bridge these to check the engine will turn over, but be careful!). It will also have either one or 2 wires to it (or it might have a whole bunch of wires if it controls the rest of the electrics). If it has 2 wires then one is probably power (probably switched on when the starter button is pressed); check one is earthed and one has power when the button is pressed / not pressed. If it has one wire then it is probably an earth that is switched when you press the starter button (ie, the relay gets power all the time from the main feed from the battery, and the relay operates when the small single wire is earthed).

All the best

Katy
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andy_uk · World Chat Champion Joined: 13 Aug 2011 Karma :

RodYork · Scooby Slapper Joined: 11 Apr 2014 Karma :

I don't know if this is too late- but could you not just ring up a local school to you & ask to borrow one
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arry · Super Spammer Joined: 03 Jan 2009 Karma :

He won't be back.

Robby · Dirty Old Man Joined: 16 May 2002 Karma :

Probably too late, but it sounds like two symptoms are possible - water in the fuel, then a flat battery.

Water in the fuel had collected in the carb, making it hard to start an then very hard to keep running, particularly at small throttle openings. The solution is to drain the carb (drain screw on the bottom) into a cup, and look for evidence of water in what came out. About half a cupful of fuel should come out.

The battery would then have been flattened from trying to start it repeatedly. Charge the battery. If you don't have a charged, jump start it from a car. If you don't have jump leads, bump start it - but this could take a while if it has a vacuum petcock, because the carb needs to refill.