Bike starting issues

[Jack.77]

I took a punt on a non runner which is starting to get a bit puzzling.so far there is no electrics working despite charging battery and checking all wiring /fuses but I must have missed something obvious .I wonder if it’s worth checking another battery but the new charger says it’s ok and not old

The dashboard lights did very briefly flash for a few seconds and back brake was working but wire then got very hot then after that nothing worked , no luck on the kick start either but has loads of compression and motd only 3 months ago so it cant be that complicated .

I’m wondering why it doesn’t at al least go on a kick start

[ThreadKiller]

If the battery and fuses are good and all of the electrics hardly work…. Check the battery negative connection?

[KTMsm]

Wiring break around the head stock or ignition barrel would be my guess

[Jack.77]

ThreadKiller said:

If the battery and fuses are good and all of the electrics hardly work…. Check the battery negative connection?

yes seems to be ok and no obvious wiring breaks on the ignition end from what I can see

[KTMsm]

Jack.77 said:

yes seems to be ok and no obvious wiring breaks on the ignition end from what I can see

Have you checked for voltage with a multimeter ?

[bongtom]

Stick a new battery in for a start.

[TimmyMallett]

Charger tests don't really show a full picture. I had one that looked like it was ok but the bike was doing all sorts of weird stuff, like not starting from hot. Put a new battery in an fixed everything. It's under load where a battery will show it's knackered and cause problems.

[Krikkit]

If the wiring was getting hot there's a short-circuit somewhere, be very careful as it doesn't take much to move from there to electrical fires...

[RizzoTheRat]

I'm guessing from the mention of a kick start that it's not something with overly complicated electronics. Battery might be knackered but if you're getting semi sensible voltage you should still get dash lights working ok as the current drain is tiny. Lack of any lights suggests it's probably a wiring issue rather than something like the ECU.

Lack of anything when kick starting isn't a surprise as you still need a spark, and lots of bikes have an electric fuel pump.

Have you tried jump starting it? Leads on the positive terminal and somewhere on the frame mean you'd be bypassing the battery earth cable so should show if that's the issue.

[Wacky Racer]

It would help if you said what bike it is.

[Jack.77]

after taking nearly everything apart searching for a likely problem it turns out the connection from solenoid to starter motor just needed a bit of fiddling with for it to wake up a bit ! I ran it for a few minutes on a short test ride and goes very nicely but I’m not sure what the problem was with the short circuiting issue .also noticed earlier there was hardly any oil at all in it and hardly on the dipstick which is odd it got so low

[Jack.77]

Very annoyingly cannot get the new unbroken indicator lens covers anywhere ,might end up filling the panel then adding smaller lights

[I am alright Jack]

You still haven't said what bike it is!

[Jack.77]

I am alright Jack said:

You still haven't said what bike it is!

The very last one from Kanpur

Not saying anything more before people start slagging it off lol

[Jack.77]

Some carry on with this bike and starting to get annoying now .after repairing some panels and getting a Halfords spray can which wasn’t that far off the colour I then went to a specialist paint shop with the bike to get the paint matched for slightly more professional finish .a few days later and back we go to collect the paint .sprayed it on earlier today to find it’s worse than before and as it dries the colour gets more green it seems .I’m thinking now of going for a 2 tone design as this colour which is similar to old English white as found on the Morris cars seems particularly hard to get a near match or colours are slightly darker or lighter