Bike wont start

[chris128]

Hi Guys,

This is my track bike I'm talking about here, a Yamaha R6 (1999 - 2001) but its not a 'total loss' bike though, it does still have a normal battery/charging system in it. I already mentioned this in the racing section of the forum so I'll just copy and paste it into here:

Well I picked my track bike up from Louth Bikes today (they were originally supposed to be delivering it to me but they forgot..) as they have fitted a new master cylinder and new brake pads and a few other things. Got the bike off the trailer when I got home (managed not to drop it this time) and thought I would have a ride up n down the drive to see what the new brakes were like but the bike wouldnt start. So I thought it must just be something daft like having it in gear, or having the kill switch on etc but no I checked everything like that and it still wouldnt start. So I called Louth Bikes and asked if they could think of anything they had done that would stop it from starting and all they could suggest was that the battery was dead - which I find hard to believe as they only had it 6 days and I've left it for over 2 weeks before without any problems. So anyway, I put the battery on charge (using an Optimate thingy ma bob that I got with the bike) and after 30 mins on charge tried it again - still nothing. Assumed I had not left it charging long enough to get any real kind of charge into it so left it charging for about 3 hours and tried again but still wont start. Checked the connections on the battery and all looks fine but unscrewed them and put them back on again just to make sure - didnt make any difference though, the thing still will not start. About 9 times out of 10 when you press the ignition button it does absolutely nothing, but occasionally it will try and turn the engine over but only for about 2 seconds then it goes back to being completely dead. Went to halfords to see if I could buy a new battery but they were shut.

UPDATE - I've just been and checked and the Optimate charger now says the battery is fully charged and has a strong charge/current/whatever but still the bike does nothing when pressing the start button... apart from the odd time (now about 1 in 20) when it will crank over once or twice then stops again. Earlier it did actually crank over a few times and sounded like it had started properly but after about 10 seconds it stopped again, tried to start it straight after that and it was dead again.

So any ideas what I can do next or what the problem could be? Unfortunately the garage (Louth Bikes) are not open tomorrow or Monday and I'm at work all week so not sure when I can next get it to them, and I'm sure they will say its nothing they have done and charge me for fixing it

Thanks

Edited April 5, 2010 by chris128

[cypek]

My suggestions would be to start checking from the beginning... Start switch, wires, starter motor. Could you try to maybe push start it? Someone here suggested once to try and roll a bike on gear to check is everything inside engine can move smoothly. Thats just my thoughts as a non mechanic but a bit handy person Good luck

[archiec]

Sounds like maybe the start switch

[Guest]

find the start relay and bridge the points, big screwdriver or spanner works well. if this works, then its the switch, you could fit a switch straight to the relay, under the seat,

[chris128]

find the start relay and bridge the points, big screwdriver or spanner works well.

 

How do I find that? and how do I 'bridge the points' without electrocuting myself?

Also, as mentioned in the other thread, there has been some dodgy business going on with my seat (long story short - the garage reckon the police took it but they have replaced it) so I'm wondering if that has anything to do with this, what with the battery being under the seat..

[Guest]

its only 12v, i've done it loads, just use a long handled screwdriver.

relay should look like this...

 

 

bridge the connections on the 2 big brass screws, and the bike should turn overm you are bypassing the ignition and starter button.

[chris128]

Ah ok thanks, so is that just going to be under the seat near the battery then or do I need to start taking things apart to find it?

[Guest philgale]

mate sounds a bit dodgy the police turning up and having a seat, why would anyone mark a seat unit for a track bike, they would mark the frame not the bloody seat...

i reckon they dropped it and broke the seat unit and now it wont start and its a way of masking giving you a new seat...

get a response back from the police and if there talking bollocks go back and find out what actually happened, tell them you been to the police and found out there talking bollocks.

[chris128]

That was my thinking too - that they have done something that wrecked the seat (and also caused this problem with it not starting) which is why they replaced it.

The police called me back today actually and left a voicemail saying that they need to know the names of the officers that came and whether they were from humberside police or lincolnshire police, so they suggested I ring the garage and ask them - not being funny but like the garage are going to know either of those things even if they are telling the truth! I dont really want to call the garage and ask them as I'd rather know for sure whether or not they are lying about the whole thing before I talk to them again. Might just ring the police back and say that the garage dont know the names of the officers etc as I'm pretty sure they wont... especially if they have made the whole thing up!

[Guest]

Ah ok thanks, so is that just going to be under the seat near the battery then or do I need to start taking things apart to find it?

should be under the plastics on the left side by the battery, but could be the right side.. either way it will be near the battery.

if theres been an issue with the seat area, it could be the fuse on the relay is shot, or disconnected, or broken internally,..

check the fuses on the relay and try bridging it, if nothing happens new relay required.

[Guest philgale]

take the bike back to them and tell them to fix it, it was working when you dropped it off with them so its something they have done.

any shit and it goes to the small claims court, also ask them to spray the new seat unit to match the bike if it already doesnt.

speak to citizens advice and see what they say about it.

[chris128]

Well with a little help (ok a lot of help) from WalneyFrankie and others in the chat, I managed to get this fixed

The garage had moved the thing that houses the start button and the kill switch on the bars (I think WF said the technical name for it is a switchgear) as they had to move a few things around to fit the brembo master cylinder on - the problem was that they had not screwed it back together tightly enough. I took the thing apart to look inside it and it looked like the garage had sprayed the inside with WD40 (which is why I had taken it apart) but when I put it back together I screwed it together really tight and as soon as I tried to start it after that it worked fine The start button sticks a bit like it used to now but I would rather that than it not starting at all.

Still going to ring them tomorrow though and ask what really happened with my seat...

[Dale.]

Good job mate glad you got that sorted.

[chris128]

mate sounds a bit dodgy the police turning up and having a seat, why would anyone mark a seat unit for a track bike, they would mark the frame not the bloody seat...

i reckon they dropped it and broke the seat unit and now it wont start and its a way of masking giving you a new seat...

get a response back from the police and if there talking bollocks go back and find out what actually happened, tell them you been to the police and found out there talking bollocks.

 

Well I spoke to the police again today and it looks like the garage were telling the truth and the police did just turn up and take some bikes, seats, and a few other bits. Bit surprised that the police wouldn't even attempt to contact the owners of these items they took, but after the large amount of time and effort it took me to actually get through to the right people at the police it doesnt surprise me that they are not that organised...