[eviltwin415]

OK, my bike is dead for the first time. I tried starting it yesterday in the morning and it was pretty cold out (for a san francisco morning). It sounded like it wanted to start normally for a second, then just a higher pitched fast clicking or "whirring" sound. tried it again a couple of times, it eventually started, i got to work, no more problems for the rest of the day. this morning however, same thing, but the first couple of puts out of the pipe the first time i tried to start it were the only ones i got, after that just the clicking or whirring sound that is coming from behind the right side carb by the battery or airbox.

Is it my starter?

 

[pz1]

may be a solenoid gone bad, or how old is the battery, i have a clicking problem and have checked pretty much everything and it looks like the above two. my battery is the original, so it is getting old, like me.

 

[propforward]

The first thing I would consider is the battery - it sounds to me like you have a dead un, and they do go all of sudden sometimes. Some good tips on checking batteries here:

http://www.triumphrat.net/twins-tec...ng-modifications-and-so-on-2.html#post1149298

You can try jumping it from a car battery - but only do it in very short bursts. That will tell you pretty quickly whether your battery is bad, then you can go and get a new one, and hey presto you are away.

 

[sweatmachine]

yes, you can jump from a car but only if the car IS NOT RUNNING, and yes it sounds like a bad battery to me too.

 

[propforward]

That's a better than good point. When I do it, I do it from a standalone car battery. Naturally I forgot to mention that.

These days I don't even do that, I use a battery charger that's capable of delivering some oomph.

Better yet, if you have one try a smaller battery - another bike battery or a riding lawnmower battery or whatever. Basically you want to avoid overloading the bikes electrical system.

 

[eviltwin415]

i don't think its the battery

2 reasons i don't think its the battery. first is i just got a new battery a few weeks ago, second is it sounds like there's plenty of juice. the clicking/whirring sound is strong and not fading, it's just not doing anything to the engine to turn it over.

what's a solenoid?

 

[propforward]

Even though your battery is new, it could still be that. It could also be a loose ground connection - that happened to me before.

 

[sweatmachine]

the solenoid is a big switch that connects the starter to the battery. You push the button on the control, and it tells the solenoid to connect the battery to the starter. If you pull your left (I think, brain fart at the moment) side cover you should see it there. Looks like a big black wire connected to a little can shaped deal with another big black wire coming out the other side.

To test it, you can pull back the sheathing on the 2 big black wires and arc the 2 terminals together with a screwdriver. This will turn on the starter (not to mention throw a good spark and scare the bejesus out of you, even when you're expecting it ). If the battery is good the bike should fire right up.

 

[onnel]

If it has spark, then the problem is the same I (and many others) had:

ignition coil

Happens a lot on these bikes, it seems.

 

[BonnieBlack07]

+1 check battery

Had the same problem last fall.
Loud clicking.
Hooked up the batter to a tender overnight, plugged the sucker back in, and abracadabra, no clicking and bike started just fine.

 

[sweatmachine]

let's see a pic of that flat black bonnie!

I was just in San Francisco about a month ago. I was there for a week and loved it! I want some Anchor Steam and fish tacos with guacamole!

 

[Gregger]

Check the connections on your battery first.

When you say you hear a wirring sound, where specifically. Is it the starter spinning? Solenoids can buzz if there isn't enough voltage to make a good contact. Is it a buzzing sound that you hear?

 

[sweatmachine]

If it has spark, then the problem is the same I (and many others) had:

ignition coil

Happens a lot on these bikes, it seems.

if it had spark the coil would be good.

The coil wouldn't cause the solenoid to click.

 

[eviltwin415]

sound location

the sound seems to be coming from around the right side cover area behind the carb. does that make sense? the battery seems to be fine because i tried it again today and it's still making the same sound. if the battery was bad wouldn't it decrease in the power and i'd hear the difference?

Sweat machine, did you catch those few gorgeous warm days we had? that could make anyone wanna move here. unfortunately it's rarely like that. when i visited a few times before i moved here i thought everyone was nuts telling me its gloomy, foggy and cold cuz i always got the weird warm weather. now i know better. sun didn't shine for a month as soon as i moved. good riding weather usually, a little on the cold side, but the best thing is you almost always know when it will and won't rain.

 

[propforward]

That's more or less where the starter relay is (it's over on the left side, but sound can be tricky to trace, especially with the covers on.)

It could still be the battery - it takes a long while to drain it enough to stop that whirring / clicking. It could also be loose connections on the battery, or loose ground connection on the frame. Or loose connections on the starter relay.

 

[sweatmachine]

Sweat machine, did you catch those few gorgeous warm days we had? that could make anyone wanna move here. unfortunately it's rarely like that. when i visited a few times before i moved here i thought everyone was nuts telling me its gloomy, foggy and cold cuz i always got the weird warm weather. now i know better. sun didn't shine for a month as soon as i moved. good riding weather usually, a little on the cold side, but the best thing is you almost always know when it will and won't rain.

I was there from March 29th to April 4th, and yes it was beautiful. There were a couple of cold nights, but yeah it was beautiful and it really hurt to think my motorcycle was in Texas when my ass was in CA.