Clicking noise when trying to start

[colsan1]

I've got a suzuki vs700 that i've been tidying up.
when i came to put it back together i found it wouldnt start.
everything is conected and earthed ok but when i press the starter
it just makes a clicking noise, like when the battery is going flat except
it isnt. I've tried connecting the car battery up to it and i still get the clicking
which i've traced to a small electrical component under the seat.
I'm shit with electrics, its all spaghetti to me but i can generally tinker about
with stuff once i know whats wrong. the thing is i dont know what the component is.
The engine is not turning over and the starter motor isnt turning either.
So when your batteries dieing and it make this clicking sound what is it??

[White trash]

I've got a suzuki vs700 that i've been tidying up.
when i came to put it back together i found it wouldnt start.
everything is conected and earthed ok but when i press the starter
it just makes a clicking noise, like when the battery is going flat except
it isnt. I've tried connecting the car battery up to it and i still get the clicking
which i've traced to a small electrical component under the seat.
I'm shit with electrics, its all spaghetti to me but i can generally tinker about
with stuff once i know whats wrong. the thing is i dont know what the component is.
The engine is not turning over and the starter motor isnt turning either.
So when your batteries dieing and it make this clicking sound what is it??

The clicking is the starter solenoid as it opens and closes when you hit the button. Sounds like a jammed starter gear on the end of the starter motor or sprag clutch or whatever the hell they're called. Popping the bike in gear, give it a good rock forward to turn the motor over slightly then back into neutral and hit the button again. Might work, might not.

[neels]

Check that you're not missing an earth from battery to the frame, or frame to engine if it's not hard mounted. Easy way to check is to stick a jumper lead from your battery negative to somewhere on the engine.

[Juzz976]

Sounds like your starter relay is energising but no spin at starter motor. most bikes have external relay as the starter motors are not solenoid actuated.

Check that the starter motor is wired to this relay with a decent sized wire and another wire to batt +, there will be small wire that is the control wire from the start button this may be interlocked by passing through another relay or neutral switch.

Starter motor could be dead too, try briefly tapping a wire to its terminal straight off battery(with a decent sized wire of course)

The starter motor wires are the biggest wire in motorcycles and cars, this is dues to the large inrush current required to turn the motor over.

[Juzz976]

Check that you're not missing an earth from battery to the frame, or frame to engine if it's not hard mounted. Easy way to check is to stick a jumper lead from your battery negative to somewhere on the engine.

+ 1 ...10 Chars...

[one fast tl1ooo]

You dont have a evil ex. and its a time bomb, and she is trying to blow you up??

[slofox]

try briefly tapping a wire to its terminal straight off battery(with a decent sized wire of course)

The starter motor wires are the biggest wire in motorcycles and cars, this is dues to the large inrush current required to turn the motor over.

All this is good advice. Just don't do what I did once and use a bare, thinnish, solid copper wire to do the job. When I did that, the wire became instantly red hot and welded itself to my thumb...needless to say, I said "Oh dear, golly gosh that does smart..."

[T.W.R]

Solenoid is making the noise as been said

Give the starter motor itself a tap on the end with the handle end of a scew driver, $5 says the brushes are worn or getting worn & have gummed up and not making proper contact with the armature
about $15 will get new brushes from a auto electrician, just requires a bit of nifty work with a soldering iron, cheaper than buying a replacement brush plate kit from a dealership (anywhere from $30-45).
Whilst apart give everything a good clean as the dust (ground-up brush) cakes onto every internal part.

[colsan1]

Well tried the above all with no joy.
However, i had previously asked my son to put the batery on charge which he did. After
buggering about this time i asked him to do it again while i cleared the garage. He put the
charger connectors on the wrong way round. I'm thinking this could have fried something so will have to
investingate again.

[avgas]

Well tried the above all with no joy.
However, i had previously asked my son to put the batery on charge which he did. After
buggering about this time i asked him to do it again while i cleared the garage. He put the
charger connectors on the wrong way round. I'm thinking this could have fried something so will have to
investingate again.

You connect the charger to the batter without disconnecting one of the terminals
Good lord man! That is asking for trouble, especially when you consider your reversing the current on a DC circuit.
Always isolate the battery when connecting a high current charger. Trickle charges are different and have some smarts.

[neels]

He put the charger connectors on the wrong way round. I'm thinking this could have fried something so will have to
investingate again.

Very possibly, and probably your battery. I'd try another battery with that one disconnected and see if it helps.

Good lord man! That is asking for trouble, especially when you consider your reversing the current on a DC circuit.

You what now? How is connecting a battery charger (the right way around) and supplying volts to the electrical system any different to connecting a battery and supplying volts to the electrical system?

I've never disconnected the battery leads on any of my bikes or cars when charging, and haven't managed to fry any electrics yet.

[T.W.R]

He put the charger connectors on the wrong way round. I'm thinking this could have fried something so will have to
investingate again.

wouldn't affect the starter circuit, it's an open circuit until you hit the starter button

Simple test is connect a voltmeter to the starter terminal & a good earth and hit the button, if the voltage doesn't drop below 10v under load the fault is in the starter itself If it does drop below 10v the fault is in the circuit feeding the starter.

Check the solenoid itself too with a voltmeter (set on Ohms) test across the pins, the ohms should read zero or very close to zero. You can check it on volts reading also by testing to see the voltage (battery voltage), then hit the starter button & the reading should reduce to zero or very close, if the reading is below 0.5v then it's OK if the reading is above 0.5 then the contacts within the solenoid are getting poked. Though if it's clicking presently then that's usually a sign it's working as it should (that's the contacts snapping together).

[avgas]

I've never disconnected the battery leads on any of my bikes or cars when charging, and haven't managed to fry any electrics yet.

Its good to decrease the load (physical not resistance) - so that all the charge goes directly into the battery, rather then through the whole loom of the vehicle. Very handy to keep in mind - especially if your battery is dead due to the lights being left on........and they are still on and you haven't noticed.

I have only heard of car stories to be honest. People popping CPU's as they connected the charger, as the charger dumps the whole transformer current into the loom. Or chargers popping as they got rather warm trying to charge the batter with the loom attached (bad battery with lots of resistance vs low resistance loom in parrallel).

But as a general rule I always disconnect the battery from what ever system when I charge it, as its a case of 'who knows what could happen'. I have had a few 6v and smaller batteries, explode nicely.

[glegge]

yeah well - battery charging aside, if the engine is not even turning over, then your not going to know if anything else is busted, until you can get it to turn over and try to start.
it will be easier (probably) to get it turning over and attempt to start, that way at least it will be easier to diagnose if anything else is still wrong (IE does everything work as it should once engine running).

if your starter solanoid is clicking, then the starter motor SHOULD be being connected to the battery and turning the engine over.

so from here - do you have a volt meter?
can you hold one of the volt meter probes on the battery minus terminal, and the other volt meter probe on the starter motor terminal. this terminal should have a rubber boot over it most likley, just peal it away, and there will be a nut with a big lug joined to the end of a large wire that goes back to the solinoid.
now with the volt meter attached and the key off there should be no volts.

edit> i just had a look on the net, i'm not sure this bike does have a head light relay as they may have appeared a bit later in the years.
here is a picture of the starter solanoid that your looking for.

now put the key on, still no volts.
now push the start button, there should be 12volts (or there abouts).
if there is not:

some of our assumptions may be wrong, it may be a head light relay clicking, so your lights get switched off while the bike starts (to stop draining the battery during starting).
in this case, check the bike is in netural and on the side stand (try pulling the clutch in as well, hold it in when you try to start the bike).
with all these things done, and still no starting (or power to the starter motor as tested above with the volt meter) then well - we can go from there in future posts.

but in a nut shell, things to check.

if you can locate the starter motor solinoid assuming you *may* have located the head light relay at the moment (I cannot tell with out the circuit diagram or being in front of the bike), the starter motor solinoid is a little box or cylinder thing, with 2 big wires going into it, and a few small ones.
once you find this, if you can trace the thick wires, one will go to the battery + terminal.
the other thick wire will go to the starter motor.
now if you hold the box/cylinder (starter solinoid), and push the start button, you will probably feel it click. if you dont, then there is something more wrong.
to electricaly check this, put a volt meter probe on the neg battery terminal, and then put the other lead on one of the large terminals on the starter solinoid.
one should have 12V on it, the other should not.
if you push the start button both of the large terminals on the starter solinoid should have 12v on them.
best of luck. hopefully (if you have done some work on this bike) you may have just left off a side stand wire, neutral wire or a clutch switch wire.
if your local in wellington, i'd be happy to call by and have a gander.

edit, i dont think your bike will have a head light realy (It might be a bit old)...
i've included a link to a picture of the starter solinoid.. http://www.rmstator.com/upload/img_prod3826_1_lg.jpg

[colsan1]

Thanks glegge thats nice and easy to follow which is how i need it as i dont know jack about electricary.
Its definately the starter solonoid, it looks like the pic in the link. I'll test this afternoon with a multimeter.