[sidney79]

Hi there,

Had my 1300C out for a weekend ride, all was well. Just when I came back to put her in the garage I put her in gear with the stand still down (doh!!!) and it cut out as it should. However, I cannot get her started again. Initially, not even the console lights came on. However, after some fumbling around today, the Neutral and Temp lights illuminate with the ignition on...but no starting.....

Checked the battery with a light tester and it is good (I don't have a load tester). All the fuses are good too, at least the ones I could access. Battery cables where tight and clean. So is it safe to say this is a relay issue? One strange thing is that my add on fog lamps will not illuminate despite the ignition being on and the battery seeming to be good.

Any idea if it is possible to some how short out the battery by putting the bike in gear with the stand down? The battery had seemed just fine during the ride but perhaps now it is dead? Anyhow, to clear up some confusion, I just bought the bike 2 weeks ago, used with 16,000mi and I am not sure on the battery condition. Have gone back to the seller to ask these questions!!

Many thanks for all your help!!

 

[The Old Fool]

Probably the kick stand switch. The service manual can be downloaded at the 1300 forum sticky posts. There is a check procedure for that switch in the manual.

 

[cbittner]

Electrical Problems...no start

I had this same problem but i was at the gas pump. The bike ran fine all day and when i went to start it i lost ALL power. After towing it home, i checked everything (fuse, wires, battery). I could get the dash lights to come on but when i hit the start button everything would die. I found that the battery was shorting out inside of it casing. Try disconnecting your battery and hooking jumper cables directly to the wires and to a GOOD battery. hope this helps

 

[VTXRICAN]

You didn't say anything about the kill switch? Check to see if you didn't hit it. :hmm2:

 

[Madness_MC]

Hi there,

Had my 1300C out for a weekend ride, all was well. Just when I came back to put her in the garage I put her in gear with the stand still down (doh!!!) and it cut out as it should. However, I cannot get her started again. Initially, not even the console lights came on. However, after some fumbling around today, the Neutral and Temp lights illuminate with the ignition on...but no starting.....

Checked the battery with a light tester and it is good (I don't have a load tester). All the fuses are good too, at least the ones I could access. Battery cables where tight and clean. So is it safe to say this is a relay issue? One strange thing is that my add on fog lamps will not illuminate despite the ignition being on and the battery seeming to be good.

Any idea if it is possible to some how short out the battery by putting the bike in gear with the stand down? The battery had seemed just fine during the ride but perhaps now it is dead? Anyhow, to clear up some confusion, I just bought the bike 2 weeks ago, used with 16,000mi and I am not sure on the battery condition. Have gone back to the seller to ask these questions!!

Many thanks for all your help!!

Sidney -

You may need a new battery, as yours might be an original unit on an '04 bike. Voltage may be OK, but not enough amps to do anything like start the bike. If you had a shorted cell, you wouldn't read 12 volts ... it would be 10 or less. But a sulfated battery will read (nearly) correct volts, but would not stand up to a draw to crank the bike.

A couple of clues point in the right direction for other, less costly repairs. You also did good to check the battery volts and cable connections. As stated, you didn't by chance hit the RUN/STOP switch to the STOP position, right ???

The other main clue is your driving lights - if they are wired correctly, they should go out when your high beams are switched ON. The driving lights should only be able to be lit up with the low beams ON. Honda does a smart/dumb trick - the run all of the juice (volts) thru a tiny set of contacts beside the START switch contacts. Your START switch has the headlight volts running thru it constantly on a tiny little set of brass contacts that are disengaged when you depress the START button. This allows more available volts for the starter and ignition coils to operate.

Unfortunately, this arrangement also has several drawbacks. Both sets of tiny brass contacts for the START and the headlights do become partially fried after a short time. Fortunately, this is easily corrected. Remove your R/S control switch housing assembly. Remove the START switch, clean both sets of contacts with emery cloth or 2000 grit sandpaper and contact cleaner (brake cleaner) solvent. Align the contacts if off-center and reassemble and reinstall the control switch housing. You should be able to start the bike after that.

Next item is to take the headlight and driving lights and using two (2) relays, wire them to separate fused circuits. Use the standard headlight feed wire as the tickler wire for the headlight relay and run a fused power wire from the battery or auxiliary fusebox to run the headlight Hi/Lo switch wire. Run a 2nd circuit using the low beam power wire (the white wire inside your headlight bucket at the back of the headlight bulb) as the "trigger" wire (tickler feed wire) for the driving light relay circuit.

Almost guarantee that your START button problems will not happen any time soon again.

 

[sidney79]

Joe, Thanks for the pointers.

I used a multimeter and the battery is showing 10.8V, well below the published specs. I jumped the battery from my truck (I know this is not recommended) and the power came up and the bike started on the first crank.

I quickly disconnected the jumper cables and right away the bike started running rough, as if on one cylinder, the neutral light flickered as did the odometer back light and the aftermarket Baron tach I have, well the needle went nuts and the backlight on that gauge flickered....the bike died out about 10 seconds later.

I did a few trials and the case was always the same once I disconnected the cables. A quick re-attaching of the cables and she ran smooth again.

I think it is pretty safe to say the battery is the problem but the question is why all of a sudden? It is the original Yuasa stock battery so it has done well to last since 2004. However, I am now looking for clues as to why the battery died so suddenly??

Overcharging is possible I guess. But I wonder if you have any thoughts as to why this happened in the first place....as I stated, I put the bike in gear with the side stand down...it cut out...and never started again and here I am. Any way the side stand switch figures into this? Is it possible that the current through that cut out switch somehow pooched the battery?

Thanks to all of you who posted tips!! Much appreciated!!!

 

[The Old Fool]

You have a battery with a DEAD shorted cell. That why everything goes to hell when you take the jumpers off. The alternator can't keep up with a dead short. Just replace it and ride on.

 

[westvirginia]

You have a battery with a DEAD shorted cell. That why everything goes to hell when you take the jumpers off. The alternator can't keep up with a dead short. Just replace it and ride on.

+1 One of those plates drops and it will just die.

Dude, you got FIVE YEARS from a MC battery. Congrats on that. Just replace and move on.

 

[Lone Rider]

WOW! 5 years out of an MC battery! I can't get that out of a car battery. Glad to hear you got it sorted out!