electrical gremlin

[sn0winSaskatoon]

my reasonably new (but 2007) B11 has recently developed what I'm guessing is some sort of electrical glitch.

So I turn the key, instruments light up, there's a soft whirring sound (fuel pump or something I think?) and I push the starter. There's a little thump or clunk and the bike goes dead. Or maybe nothing happens and I push the starter a second time and then the bike goes dead. Or sometimes it either starts or goes dead on the 3rd press of the starter button - it seems to be a bit random. So when it goes dead, I turn off the key, turn it on again, and sometimes the lights do their thing again, and maybe it starts this time, or maybe not...

Two or 3 times so far, it's just been dead, dead , dead. Each of those times up to now, I've lifted the seat and checked the fusebox - everything seems fine and I went over it quickly by eye and with my multi-tester and the connections looked okay and there was no obvious short, and it's not blowing any fuses... So I press on the fuses a bit, try to start it again and so far, I've been able to get it going every time. Which makes me wonder whether the fuses are just vibrating loose? But wouoldn't I be blowing them in that case? Perhaps duct tape is the answer? (a very canadian fix, if anyone has ever seen the "red green show").

So the only problem so far is that I lose the clock settings and whatever I had on there since I last hit the trip meter (which is nice to keep track of fuel since the fuel gauge seems to be rather "creative" in its approximation to reality). So it's a bit of a pain because I have to reset the clock and stuff, but it just makes me worry, as I have a long trip planned for a month from now to go to the west coast and down into the USA and the last thing I want is to be stranded in the middle of montana or something with a dead italian bike and no service for 1500 km in any direction...

any thoughts or advice?

Ian

 

[draidt]

Check both the Battery terminals for lose terminals, clean them up while your at it and don't dismiss that the battery is going south.

 

[Brian UK]

Have you read the "intermittent Starter button" thread below? Gives a few suggestions.
But are you saying that when you hit the button everything goes dead, and you lose the trip information?
This would suggest either a battery that was on its way out, or a poor connection in the system either on the battery, or perhaps the fuses. Have you removed these fuses and re-inserted them? Try spraying some contact cleaner/lubricant on all these too.

 

[londonrob]

agreed, junk the battery for an Odyssey, clean up the fuse blades with wire wool, then cover everything with ACF 50.
For added insurance i fitted an extra earth lead to an engine bolt, no electrical gremlins so far!

 

[Brian UK]

The earth on these models already goes to the engine, top left of the starter motor as you look from the side, but under the cover.
However, corrosion can set in here too, and there have been reports of that bolt being loose.
Additional earths can never do any harm.

 

[ncassidy]

Sounds to me to be a bad ground or loose battery connection on either side.

 

[Roblatt]

I've got the same problem.
For me it's the battery. Worse on cold mornings.
I'll leave mine for 2 weeks and it starts no probs, but as soon as we have a cold night - clunk, clunk, recharge. I'll be replacing it soon.