Triumphrat

williamtyne

I installed a new battery yesterday in my 2001 Legend.The previous one was weak.I hit the starter and it attempted to start for a few seconds and stopped.When I hit the starter again it did nothing.You can hear a clicking noise in the battery area.I charged and installed the old battery and same thing.I checked the fuse box and all fuses are good.Is there a in line fuse somewhere on this bike?Any suggestions?

jimmyj900

The click you hear near the battery is the starter solenoid. If it's a single click it's normal but if you're getting multiple clicks when you press the start button there's something else going on.

If the starter solenoid is firing (single click) and the starter doesn't rotate then either the power leads are loose or corroded, the solenoid is defective, the battery is weak or the starter is defective.

To check, remove the seat, raise the rear wheel off the ground, put the bike in neutral and short across the large starter solenoid terminals with a heavy screwdriver. If the starter cranks, the starter solenoid is bad. If the starter doesn't crank then it can be power leads, battery or starter.

You should see a pretty good spark when you short across the solenoid terminals. If there's no spark, that indicates a worn starter if the battery and cables are in good running condition.

Battery problems usually come down to low capacity. The voltage looks good (surface charge) but there's no reserve power (deep charge) to crank the starter. Give your new battery a slow charge (2 Amps maximum) overnight to assure that there's sufficient reserve power. (It takes 7 hours to charge a 14 Amp-Hour battery at 2 Amps.)

With battery out, check the power leads for damage and corrosion. If the leads are corroded, oxidized or generally not shiny, scrape or wire-brush them clean and apply some grease to prevent further corrosion. (High-temp wheel bearing or 'disc brake' grease works well -- it doesn't melt away when heated.) Same thing for the battery terminals.

Also check the power leads to the starter solenoid. One lead comes from the battery and the other lead goes to the starter. Try and wiggle them to assure that they're tight, but be very careful about applying torque to them with a wrench. It's easy to over-torque and cause damage.

If you come down to a bad starter, e-mail me. I can either rebuild the old starter or supply a new one at about half Triumph's price.

Jim

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