Bike will not start, need help badly : Kawasaki ZX Forums: Kawasaki Ninja Forum

FINALITY · 11-13-2009, 01:09 PM

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum and I'm sure you guys have heard this problem a million different times but here we go. I have 2003 636 that i literally bought in a box and have built myself and it does not like to start. when i push the start button i can hear the starter solenoid clicking like mad. I checked the battery which is brand new and it's reading just under 12 volts. so to be safe i robbed the battery out of my other bike as well as my roommates and neither of those batteries will start this thing. The next thing i did was check the cables for good contact at both terminals, the solenoid, and the starter. All are good. i have used a multimeter to check all power reading at the start button, battery, junction box, solenoid and just about everything else electrical. Now the only time i have ever had the bike started was when i had it hooked up to a jump box and then it would start. it would run fine and stay running until i shut it off. When i tried to restart immediately the solenoid just started clicking. Oh and whether or not its related the bike has sat for the last six months and in that time the clucth acts like it no longer wants to disegage when its in first gear and won't shift into second anymore. so yeah, any help would be greatly appreciated before i hook it to my truck and drag it down the street

Hammerhead · 11-13-2009, 01:31 PM

1. Bad starter motor or brushes, possibly from being jump-started or just grinding on the starter when there were other issues.

2. Clutch plates have soaked up oil and need to be cleaned or replaced.

FINALITY · 11-13-2009, 01:58 PM

yeah, i figured i fried the starter motor, forgot to say but i have replaced the starter motor and have yet to jump it so i no longer fry anything. also, someone said the voltage rectifier? could that keep a bike from starting no matter how good a battery?

rileydeed · 11-13-2009, 02:41 PM

Well first of all a battery can be right next to dead, and still read 12 volts when there is no load on it. You need to check the voltage while you are pushing on the start button. While trying to start the battery should have at least 9 volts.

And no the voltage regulator or rectifier should not be able to keep the starter from working. It is part of the charging system for keeping your battery fully charged while running. It is possible for a rectifier to short out and run a battery dead, but if that were the case you would notice a lot of sparking when you connect or disconnect the battery.

FINALITY · 11-13-2009, 04:37 PM

i've got the battery on a trickle charger now, but the fact that the 3 batteries have each individually started all 3 bikes leads me to think that it's pulling a lot of voltage somewhere, and it smoked from somewhere under the tank when i arced across the solenoid last night. also the first time i did that i almost started but every time after that it acted like not enough juice, any thoughts on that?

Hammerhead · 11-15-2009, 05:24 AM

It's time to pull the tank and bodywork and start looking at the wiring and connectors.

Moscap87 · 11-15-2009, 06:20 AM

is it just one click orr repetitive clicking? id guess stater solenoid or bad ground. try unplugging kickstand switch, u never know with those things. sounds to be electrical. not neccesarily a power issue (although id check that first) but also think of some input signals that would keep a bike from starting aka kickstand switch, FI switch, killswitch. when u build a bike from box is harness installed or no?

FINALITY · 11-15-2009, 06:13 PM

ok so after running through everything again i have found a start to my problem. every thing works fine as far as the starter and so forth. i hooked up a brand new battery and this is what happened

1. checked the voltage before attaching battery cables, read 12.71 volts

2. hooked up battery it and immediately it started drawing on the battery, with key off it proceeded to decrease from 12.71 - 12.70 - 12.69 and so forth every 3 seconds and never stopped until i unhooked the battery.

3. before battery died i tried to start and it almost fired up but then acted like dead battery again.

Moscap87 · 11-15-2009, 08:41 PM

make sure you dont have the power cable grounded anywhere. u sure u connected starter and stator (bike version of alternator) properly? also, stupid ? but is the key in position off and not in the park position? you have a heavy draw on the battery. if not id say watch the voltage while removing fuses. find whats causing draw. it would help if you had a meter with a milliamps setting. then connect one end to the negative terminal on battery, hook other end on a chassis ground and remove negative cable from where mounts to chassis. this will make your meter the negative cable. but be careful not to make a spark and blow fuse in meter. then start removing fuses and find the draw. a normal draw is like 20 milliamps or 0.020 on reading

FINALITY · 11-15-2009, 11:28 PM

yeah i thought the same thing too but key was in correct position and not park light position. and i'm certain i have everything in the correct places, i used only oem replacement parts and used my friends identical bike as a blue print when putting this one together. i'll run through the fuses a let you know what i find!