Hi All, I have a 1999 fi with a Thatcham 3 alarm fitted. The bike hasn't been used for a while and now I've charged the battery it won't start. Everything lights up as it should, but it doesn't turn over. I'm thinking of tracing the wiring (already started) and ditching out the alarm, one less thing to think about in my opinion, and taking it from there. Anybody have any ideas on what else I should look for?
Hi and welcome to the MadHouse:welcome:. Folks on here really like to see pictures of your bike, or they won't believe you have one! So to stop people ragging on you, find time to take some photos and then click the icon two to the right of the envelope and follow the prompts... Its sounds like you are frustrated the bike is not up and running, but before attacking an alarm which may be nothing to do with the problem, I think we need a better fix on your VFR, its history and what is and is not working. You say you have a 99 that has not been used for a while - how long is a while? Did you lay it up or a previous owner? When it was last used, was it running fine or were there issues which resulted in it being parked up? Was the fuel tank drained and engine run to clear the system before it was laid up? How old is the fuel in the bike? You say you have charged the battery and the bike did not start? So how old is the battery? Did you check the DC volts after it was charged? Did the starter turn the engine over or not? Could you hear the fuel pump prime? Did the gauges run through their start up cycle? Are the lights and other electrics working OK? If it turned over OK could you smell unburnt fuel, was there any sign of it firing occasionally? As for the Alarm - if it is just an alarm system it will just make noise but won't prevent the bike being started. However Thatcham units tend to incorporate an immobiliser system, and if that is not turning off correctly it will prevent the bike starting. So ensure you have carefully followed the user manual and checked the alarm is suitably disarmed. Ensure that you have fresh batteries in any remote. Most systems will give some sort of visual/audio indication when the alarm is armed/disarmed. Just ensure you follow the sequence in the manual. Again only you know what make/model is fitted - so if you think it is faulty then getting help from the alarm manufacturer is probably the best way to proceed, as it may be the internal battery drained completely and just needs replacement. Inherently whilst you probably know the answers to all these things, without more information from you we are working pretty much blind, and as it stands its pretty much impossible to offer more than generic advice on what might be needed to get the bike running - like check the kill switch position... which I am sure you have done a hundred times already. Sorry, but for now it back to you. SkiMad
Hi, thanks for the reply; I'll try and get some pics up here soon. I laid the bike up about 15 months ago, it was running just fine then. The fuel is fresh. The battery is fairly new as I bought it to get the bike running again. It was reading about 13.9 volts. I can hear the fuel pump prime, no starter motor attempting to turn the engine over, and so no attempt to fire. The gauges went through their sequence, all lights and indicators working ok. Can set and disarm the alarm ok. Hope these are some of the answers to your questions. According to the alarm wiring diagram, it does interrupt the signal to the starter motor; this was what got me thinking it was the alarm that was causing the issue. Dave
Sometimes starter relay fails as well, not unheard of. Is there a "click" when you press the starter button on the right handlebar? Click sound is made by starter relay as it closes the relay and supplies power to the starter. If no click is heard, try looking around starter relay and voltage supply to it, neutral switch, kickstand switch, fuses, etc, etc ... If you do hear a "click" as you press the starter button, your starter itself is not working. Fuse is blown if you are lucky, starter is bad if you are unlucky
If the bike's in neutral, try jumping the 2 large terminals on the starter relay just to see if that gets the starter spinning.
Thanks for the reply; I'm away from the bike for a couple of days, I'll have a poke about when I can and get back to you what I find.
I had the same problem on my Y2K. It freaked me out. Everything worked but no starter. I thought about it and kicked up the side stand (hard) and it all worked as advertised.
:welcome: to the madness from accross the pond mate. Hope you got the issue fix soon +1 for Skimad :thumbsup:
Hi! Thanks for the comments so far; looks like next time I'll get to look at the bike will be Monday so I'll have a play about and report back...
