No start: electrical problem suspected

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-Display unit comes on
-no check engine light
-fuel pump whirls up (sometimes sluggishly...weird)
-hit the start button and... click sound from the relay+ lights go buzzerk on the display unit but no start.

It let me down at a traffic light while I was driving. I switched the bike off for the duration of the red light and it wouldn't fire up when I was ready to go on the green light. move to the side to wiggle some wires but no dice. Then I tried to start it on compression and that worked until I turned a sharp right into my street. Everything died.

I have a friend with the same bike so I swiotch out a few things to try and isolate the problem. No luck


Really stuck with this stupid electrical problem and I'm loosing my patience. Ideally I fix this before 3 or 4 pm today so I can go ride (Wednesday evening is ride night) so any help would be very very apreciated.

Thanks

I hate to sound like a broken record mentioning the same potential issue, but check the connector between the radiator and the gas tank.

click me <-- click here

I assume you haven't bypassed the kick stand safety switch?

I agree check that connector motoKid mentions.

But why the heck do you shut your bike off at traffic lights?

Motokid and Coop,

Thanks for taking the time to try and help me out. Unfortunately I am way past that point since the connector has disconnected on me before and that was the first thing I checked.

Here is where I'm at:







Extra info: There is a distinctive "electrical snap" when I hit the starter button. It really sounds like a short circuit snapping away, but then again it could just be the relay that makes that noise in normal condition and I just don't hear it because the engine turns over at that point... going paranoid here

An other video:

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i had a problem like this on my 1st streetbike and i found that the blots on the start relay were lose and the 2 wires were touching. same loud tick so i got a new relay and worked fine.(i dont know if this was one of the parts u swiched already)

I'm sure you have tested the battery?

@Crazy M: I switched out the starter relay (the one with the 30A fuse) with my friends wr250r and checked the connections while I was at it. my starter relay worked on his bike so that's not the problem.... if only it was

@wristpin: actually, I want to swap his and my battery. I plugged my radiaor fan directly onto the battery and it spins full speed so I assume the battery is okay (?). I don't have a volt meter nor any electrical testing tools (forgive me) so I did what I could. His bike is back at his place...maybe I should do the battery swap to see?

zinx wrote:

...maybe I should do the battery swap to see?

Really.....after everything you've done you never bothered to check the battery?

zinx wrote:

I switched the bike off for the duration of the red light and it wouldn't fire up when I was ready to go on the green light.

How often do you do this?

@motokid: yes well.. I kinda checked it but not thoroughly. You think it might be the battery?? THe battery has few miles on it and has always run well.. I thought it would die slowly and let me know as it was passing. Not stop suddenly. Also, this means I should be able to compression start it right? run it for a while and it will charge up?

Thanks for the advice. This is my first dirt bike...second motorcycle :

If the wr250x/r had carbs and was not fuel injected then bump starting would work easily.

As it is....a slightly dead, but not totally dead battery can play havoc with our bikes. Or so I'm told.


If your buddy has the same bike and his starts and runs strong, swap the battery. It's worth a try.

At the very least you eliminate that from the potential problem.

zinx wrote:

@motokid: yes well.. I kinda checked it but not thoroughly. You think it might be the battery?? THe battery has few miles on it and has always run well.. I thought it would die slowly and let me know as it was passing. Not stop suddenly. Also, this means I should be able to compression start it right? run it for a while and it will charge up?

Thanks for the advice. This is my first dirt bike...second motorcycle :

It didn't stop suddenly. You shut it off.

Right?

At a stop light.

If you do this often you are putting a higher strain on the teenie-tiny little battery.

I've never shut my bike off at stop lights. I don't know why you'd do that.
You run the risk of being run over by the idiot behind you.

What year is your wr250? 2008?

You said the fuel pumps sort of primes, but makes funny noises?????

Depending on how much of a friend your friend is, you could swap fuel tanks too.

Eliminate the fuel pump as a possible problem.

@motokid: my wr250r is a 2008 (with the possible fuel pump failure). The pump sounds good and I think the problem isn't with the pump...but I will swap to make sure. I'M pretty sure it's electrical because it whirls up perfect when I turn the key on , but when I try to start and the dash goes all weird if I try it again the pump is somewhat uder powered (seems like).

I'll get on the battery issue tonight and tomorrow morning and get back to you. I'd feel prety dumb if it's only the battery...but happy if that's it.

cheers and thanks

Hey man. If it turns out to be the battery, don't sweat it, just laugh it off, and chaulk it down for experience next time. Hopefully it is as simple as that and you can just get a new battery and back to riding. Bonne chance!

Sure does sounds like battery to me...

If the battery isn't the problem and you've already tried swapping relays it's possible it's the starter itself, but it would be the first starter failure I've heard of on a WR since the fubar '03 450s.

Arkmage wrote:

possible it's the starter itself

hit it with a hammer(lightly) and knock the rust off

So, was it the battery?

I don't know if it's the video but when you press the starter the whole dash and headlight flashes/flickers. So my guess is you have a short circuit somewhere, some wires may have come loose/ protection has worn off and they are now touching, and the bike won't let the starter run to prevent some sort of meltdown... just my guess

**update**

OK so here's a quick update of what's happened since my last reply:

-tested the battery with a and old multimeter (analogue dating back from the 50s or 60s i'm guessing...the only one I had) and the battery reads low 12V
-fiddle around with a friend on the bike till midnight last night.
-Got it to start!! not sure what changed though so I'm not in a much better position than before. We turned the back wheel while in gear to move then engine a little and when we tried to start her up after that: bingo. I could stop and start it at will after that. Then back to square one: no start same problem. Tried to figure out what we did to make it work put can't put our finger on it. Got it to start again and then couldn't get it to not work anymore...
-This morning I tried hitting the start button and it was back to not working again. Turned the key on and off a couple of times and presto, it started up again.
-Took the battery off and brought it to Battery Experts where they tested it at 12.17V (45%). The bike still fired up though right before I took it off to bring it to them
-They are keeping the battery, charging it up, letting rest all night and testing in the morning. We will then know if the battery is the problem or not.


I truly hope it's the battery because I honestly wiggled every wired, checked for damaged wires and loose connectors, took apart the kill switch/starter module, tore apart my seamless hand made EXUP PC board to check if that was the problem, re-checked every wire, and then checked every wire again. Did I say that I checked every fricken wire.

Any thoughts? I can't just put it back together and go ride because Murphy's law dictates that it will cut out on my in the deepest of woods. I want it to be the battery because I will order the EVO battery from motorcycle-superstore (http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/2/10/212/40097/23616/PITEM/Ballistic-EVO2-Battery-2008-Yamaha-WR250R-Parts.aspx?WT.ac=Cart_Item)


Geeze, I wanna ride... Here are some shots of the mess I made:

Just got the call from Battery Experts. My battery has a cell that is shorted out. So the battery is good for the garbage. BUT, I'm not in a much better position because the battery could have shorted out because of a wire short somewhere.... so crap.

I think I'll buy the 44$ motocross brand battery and run that and see if it shorts out again. Then I,ll order up the EVO2 (oh yheaa!).

Thoughts?

Possibilites:

-magneto working improperly?
-short with the Crand position sensor with in the engine?


Thanks

I would suspect your battery lost a cell because you don't run your bike often enough. If it sits in a garage for several months or so without being fired up occasionally, the battery does not remain active and looses a cell. I think it is called a sulfated condition. I have had it happen several times with atv's sitting in the shed for too long. Just enough juice to light up the bells and whistles but not enough to turn over the motor. You could pop start it and ride it all day and the battery will not take a good enough charge to start the machine up again. A battery tender will fix that problem if you want to store something for a while. During the winter I fire up my bike weekly and let it run for a few minutes.

Si.

I have a 2008 with original battery. I also have a battery tender jr.


Also, I never shut bike off at stop lights.

If the battery doesn't do it you need to do voltage drop tests! As long as it keeps acting up while you are testing it will pinpoint the problem exactly. I can post, PM, or tell you how on the phone. The old meter will work ...