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Motorcycle dies after bypassing starter relay

6743 Views 9 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  The Swap Shop
Ok so my bike wont start or rank when I push starter button bought a brandnew spanking battery the other day and I was showing my friend my motorcycle so I hit the button and started right up but I had my battery resting on the seat and I moved the bike out of his drive way around cars and leaned the bike too far in a direction and battery slipped so negative connector ring broke off so its like a square and I think I damaged the starter relay somehow (needless to say not at all experienced with bikes) and after I tried putting what was left of the negative ring on the battery and still nothing light were fine and headlight goes off when holding button and no click what so ever I had to get bumpstarted and half way home after about 3-4 mins or so my bike died on a high up bridge luckily not a lot of traffic behind so I managed to push start the bike on my own but then the bike died a minute later so I ended up pushing the bike the rest of the way. I changed out the negative cable and still nothing.


Today I bypassed what I believe is the starter relay the metal between starter and battery and held a screwdriver to the positive and negative and bike was hesitant to start but managed to get it going but unless I'm revving the bike it will immediately die as soon as I remove the screwdriver from the 2 terminals.


Check my other post to see what I have been happening to my bike ordered a new or used starter relay for my motorcycle
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It would help to know what make/model/year bike you are talking about. But without knowing that i will still take a guess and say you may have blown the fuse (possibly attached to the relay). this would cause the bike to not re-charge the battery, causing the bike to stall. It would then momentarily re-start when bump started, then stall right away again.
Yeah Jag13,

I too was getting the idea she isn't charging. I don't know if all bikes have a fuse in the charging circuit. So it is time to get her
running and get out the good ol' multi-meter after the battery has been given a good charge and I was gonna say load tested but he
said it is a bran spanking new battery, so get her going and put a meter across the battery. I'd like to see between 14 and 15 volts.
Subtract battery volts with bike NOT running from running volts and see what you have.

There has to be of course, enough current to work the bikes electrical load, all lamps, headlight and ignition system as well as a fair
amount of current left to charge the battery. Sometimes the charging system is fine BUT extra accessories have been added,
reducing amount of current left to charge the battery.
1991 FZR600 originally my bike was losing power with full throttle and would die out and got a new battery and bike was hesitant to start and eventually got it going with the new battery so I rode it around the neighborhood where minutes go by and same thing loss of power at full throttle and bike wont start just rapid clicking and the motor is cranking. Push the bike home and MM put my battery at 8 volts when the battery I placed in my bike 20mins was at 12.75v solo stator issue.? Give it 2 days and fully charge the battery when I come home from work put the battery back in and to my surprise the bike started right up but I was actually keeping track of my battery with MM as oppose to last time it turned on and rode off lol but here is where **** gets weird after 5 mins of my bike being on after cold start when the revs at idle spike up I was getting 17ish volts at idle!! And when I revved the damn thing it hit almost 20 so afraid my battery was gonna blow up I shut it off and tried again a few mins later this time im getting 15.5 ish volts at idle maybe a bit more and revving was at 17.5 volts so regulator and or stator.? Needless to say im a numb nut and drove the bike to my friends place to show it to him hit the button started right up! But when I left I was moving the bike in between cars out his drive way and I had the battery on the seat of my bike because I bought a larger battery to fit in the pocket and slipped right out when I leaned it in 1 direction and the negative copper connector ring to my battery snapped right around the bolt and so instead of a ring it was a baby square so after trying to put what was left of the negative connector I could not start the bike with the button as I did 10 mins ago!! Lights work, neutral light, oil light comes on as long as I'm holding push starter. Also not even 1 click or a series of clicks just nothing

So got bump started by my friends and drove home immediately but half way through same ****ing thing. Bike loses power at full throttle and dies once stopped but luckily/not so luckily my bike died on a very high up bridge at the point of where I was about to hit the downhill slope late at night with little traffic so I managed to bump start on my own!! But 30-45 seconds later bike loss of power and died so I pushed the bike another mile home I replaced the negative battery connector to stator and got a new starter relay with the positive to my battery and all of my 5 fuses 3 10amps 1 25amp and 1 30 amp on the left fender sitting on the bike and still nothing when I hit the button!! I've tried to bypass the relay with a screwdriver and starts right up but dies the instant I remove the srewdriver unless I'm revving the bike hard asf.

Any ideas.? Kind of defeated right now

Was looking at clutch safety switch but idk just got a new clutch lever and have my current 1 off the bike before and after starting tests and my bike should start with kick stand down so long as I'm in neutral with clutch in
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sevenfriggin teen to 20 FU*()_ volts ! yup from experience, your regulator is having 'HOT flashes, they will either
do that or not put out enough to charge and hell maybe going between low and high. don't ride till you get a new R/R.

I kind of doubt that the stator is bad though cuz if it was shorted, you would have less effective turns of wire on the
bobbins, but I think the stator could get cooked if you keep riding the bike.
I think your voltage regulator is shot. Your stator is working, that's what is making all the volts.
But when I left I was moving the bike in between cars out his drive way and I had the battery on the seat of my bike because I bought a larger battery to fit in the pocket and slipped right out when I leaned it in 1 direction and the negative copper connector ring to my battery snapped right around the bolt and so instead of a ring it was a baby square so after trying to put what was left of the negative connector...

...I replaced the negative battery connector to stator and got a new starter relay with the positive to my battery...
A few things:
1. Don't jury-rig electrics. Bad things can happen. Mount the battery in the right location.
2. If you've bunged up some wiring, check the circuits that control the starter relay.
3. Regulator: definitely swap, but do all associated wiring checks first.
4. You've got a negative battery connection to the stator? That's weird. Consult a shop wiring diagram for your bike and make sure everything's wired properly.

General rule: all electrical components come with a preset amount of sparks and smoke inside, set by the manufacturer. If a component releases any of its sparks or smoke, you may need to replace it. And if sparks do get released, make sure they don't get inside you. Sometimes they tingle, sometimes they hurt. Also, sparks seem to have a grudge against electronics. They will hurt them at every opportunity.

Good luck!
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Today I bypassed what I believe is the starter relay the metal between starter and battery and held a screwdriver to the positive and negative and bike was hesitant to start but managed to get it going but unless I'm revving the bike it will immediately die as soon as I remove the screwdriver from the 2 terminals.


Check my other post to see what I have been happening to my bike ordered a new or used starter relay for my motorcycle
That statement in bold concerns me. You should never leave that screwdriver in contact with those posts any longer than what is necessary to start the bike. Leaving it there and rev'ing the engine could very well ruin the starter or worse as you are keeping it engaged so it's still spinning.

If it dies when you remove the contact, then start looking for anything that would kill the engine. Ignition switch, EPO switch, kickstand switch, ect.

And pray you haven't ruined the starter gear(teeth) or flywheel teeth. And if you let the magic smoke escape from any wire, you need to trace where that or those wires went to make sure no other damage happened.
With the charging system putting out up to 20 volts, you have a bad regulator.
The regulator and rectifier are both in the same 'box' so you'll need to replace that unit.
As far as what else might be going with the bike, I'm kinda lost about that. :confused:
I've got a bit of a similar problem on my FZR600!! It won't start off the push button start, but it will if you put a screwdriver etc across both of the poles on the starter motor solenoid switch! It's not been started for about 4or5 months now but I'm at a standstill with it!!
Anyone got any ideas?
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