Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Electrical Glitch

It's a couple of days since just wanted to put this out there and get opinions.

Went out on Monday, stopped off somewhere on the way to go food shopping. Came out to get back on the bike, and just a clicking from the relay under the tank. Checked the lead to the starter, nothing.

Called Ray. He went through a list of things and suggested the battery terminal was loose. However I had NO tools on me, so went back in and bought another set of allen keys to get to the battery. No, it wasn't loose terminals.

Called Ray back. 'Sounds like start solenoid... can you short it out and it'll start??' Try that and throw the key across the car park in surprise! Get it to the dealer, and get a new solenoid. The tech put's it on in the car park for me, and still no luck. We had the side stand conversation, he then suggested it was because the neutral light wasn't working (wtf???? it's not been working since before I was sick...like October!!) and while I'm worried about my bike, he's got a train to catch.
So I 'allen key start' it, get to the supermarket as I have no milk, cheese bread, sugar, etc, and when I come out, I notice the headlight isn't working.... hmm fuse blown, must be.
Get home, check the fuses. They're corroded. Clean them up, and wonder if that was the problem. Turn the alarm off and put the ignition key in.

Hit the start button.........




Bike explodes into life.


Can it really be that simple. Gave it half hour or so, and go and try it again. Yep, fired first time.

And yesterday morning too!
I think the thing I'm trying to get across is don't discount the simple things first. I now have a spare start solenoid.... (I'm keeping it as a talisman. things I have spares of, so far, haven't packed up!)

Really though, can it be that simple???

Though allen key starting sounds like a great security device!!! - no I'm not gonna use it really....

You didn't call me?

I had a very similar experiance a couple of weeks ago, ended up coming home in a recovery van. I posted up about it at the time. It ended up it was fuse number 9 had blown but it looked ok by eye and only showed up busted with a meter. It was the headlight cut out relay that I think had blown the fuse.