I rode my motorcycle to my friends house earlier today and this evening when I attempted to go home the engine would not start.

The starter seems to be working normally, at least it sounds lively when I press the button.

I did make sure the run switch was on, kick stand was up, and fuel valve was on. I have tried with and without the choke on.

My friend did get it started momentarily by bump starting it down a hill but it died shortly after.

It sat out there maybe 5 hours at the most, there was a heavy layer of condensation on the bike, could that interfere with it starting?

I'm going to try again later today to see if it needs to 'dry out' or something. If not I'll pull the battery and see if it is weak. The battery is fairly new, I have been using it for about 3 or so months.

If the battery tests fine, where should I start troubleshooting?

 

Bad fuel (sat all winter) or simply out of gas?

 

If the battery turns the engine, its not that. Sounds either like fouled plugs or no gas. Double check for fuel, then check your spark plugs.

 

Well, the bike started up fine this morning, maybe it was a fluke.

Should I still check the spark plugs?

 

Run the bike 100mph turn off engine than check your plugs.

 

Sounds like a fluke to me. Could have been due to a combination of small things that add up to a hard-to-start condition. It's good to hear it's running okay now. Put some miles on it as has been suggested.

I'd still check to make sure the battery holds charge and that there is plenty of fuel in the tank (much more than the Reserve level).

 

Yeah, great advice. Maybe he should do that in a 25mph school zone just to make it more interesting?

You don't need speed to check spark plugs. Its about throttle position.

Sikuwolf, I would still check the plugs. It takes a few minutes and it can give you an idea on what is going on inside your engine. Maybe something is not completely right and the extra condensation/weather just finalized the problem. Doesn't hurt to check.

 

Well the same problem occurred again this evening.

This starter solenoid clicked audibly but the engine would not turn.

I ended up be able to start the bike by jumping it.

The battery is not that old so I'm thinking it might be the charging system not operating properly?

Going to purchase a multimeter and run some more tests.

 

good idea. remember that the bike doesnt charge while idle. I think it has to be at 3.5-4grand rpms

 

Okay I tested the battery.

It tests at 10.5 volts by itself.

With the jumper cable it reaches 12.5 volts (enough to start)

With engine running and choke up that gets it up to 3k rpms it was reading 14.5 volts.

After the engine was warm I throttled it up and the voltage maxed out at 16.3 volts.

This would indicate that the charging system seems to be working okay. I took the bike out for some riding and came back, it would not restart. However, the voltage from the battery without the key on went from 10.5 volts to 12.9, so the ride did charge it up some. The voltage dropped to 12.5 when I turned the key on. The voltage drops further into the region of 11.5-11.6 volts when I press the starter button. Releasing the starter button it will jump back into the 12.x region.

Side note: I did a test for the rectifier that I found in another thread, disconnecting the positive lead while the bike is running, the bike did die when I did this, does that mean the rectifier is bad?