Bike sat for a month waiting for me to put new tires on. When I put the key in and get ready to start it, the lights come on and everything seems normal. When I hit the starter nothing happens. I hooked up the meter and the battery had 12 volts. The starter switch is getting power to it but the actual starter doesn't seem to be getting power. My thought is a relay. I was gonna start with the starter solenoid. Does that seem plausible? Before I parked it for a month, I had no issues with it at all.

 

Make sure all the fuses are good including the 30a main fuse at the starter solenoid. If they are all good I would check the wiring at the starter solenoid next. Check for 12v on the yellow/red wire when pressing the start switch. Check the green/red wire for continuity to ground with the bike in neutral, and also with the clutch pulled in (clutch switch closed). When the bike is either in neutral, or the clutch is pulled in while in gear, that wire is grounded at the starter solenoid allowing the relay to close when it gets battery voltage from the starter switch. With a good ground and battery voltage on the respective wires the solenoid should close and send power to the starter. You can also test for battery voltage at the starter terminal to verify the starter itself isn't bad. If it's getting battery power to the starter and it's not turning over it's probably a starter issue.

Hopefully this helps.. post back with any questions if you need more info.

 

Your battery may show 12V with a meter when there's no load on it and it may have enough power to turn the lights on. However, that does not mean there's enough power to crank the engine.

If it sat for a month or more without being connected to some type of battery tender then chances are the battery has run down too low to crank. Does the bike have an aftermarket alarm? Those especially will drain the battery over time.

 

Good point I did overlook the possibility of the battery being bad. Start there and make sure the battery is good & fully charged before checking all the wiring.

 

I did have the bike battery hooked up to my car as well fir a while thinking the same thing. Same issue. I ordered a solenoid because I found one cheap on eBay. Would the headlight still come in if the 30a main fuse or even the smaller 10 fuse were bad? I read the service manual and it stated if the starter itself was bad I should hear a clickwhile trying to start it? Not getting a click nose at all. Bikes being shipped to Chicago so I'll look at it in a week or so and by then I'm have the solenoid on hand in case that's the issue. Thanks guys

 

It wouldn't be something simple such as the kill switch may have been accidentally toggled when the bike was being moved around, would it?

 

the engine still turns over even when the kill switch is off