2000 Buell X1 Electrical Mystery

[Denny]

Hey helpful, intelligent, forum posters!

I just moved to California with my 2000 X1 lightning. I put it on a moving truck and said goodbye to it for three weeks while it was in the hands of "professional" movers. When all my stuff arrived I rolled the Buell out of the truck and was happy to see it made it apparently unscathed. When I went to start it just seconds later, however, is the interesting part.

I turned the key, had it in neutral and hit the ignition button and it cranked for a second or two, then made a sort of muffled back-fire or some kind of puff or popping noise. I hit the ignition again and now NOTHING. Headlight works, signals, I hear fuel pump priming, but when I hit the yellow button, nothing.

some things you should know, maybe: It has a Power Commander ECM and I bypassed the kickstand sensor, both were years ago and never had problems. I thought the Bank angle sensor, maybe the movers dropped it but didn't cause any cosmetic damage can't figure it out. Can anyone help?! I wanna ride in Cali!

 

[Cooter]

There really isn't enough info there to make an educated guess, so I'll just make a regular guess. I doubt it's an issue with the movers.

Double check your starting procedure, key on, run switch on, in neutral, check your kickstand bypass, etc. Do the dash lights dim when you press the button? Do the needles sweep?

If that doesn't do it, open your fuse box and look for a burned fuse.

If that doesn't do it, read your manual. The starter 'crank' circuit is an easy one to diagnose yourself with a test light. The wires go next to the steering neck which is a know spot for wire chaffing and breaking, try to hold the yellow button while turning the handlebars left and right.

The power commander doesn't have anything to do with the cranking circuit.

 

[user_deleted]

thoroughly inspect the battery cables and terminals for cleanliness and tightness then eliminate the battery as the source of your problem by jumping the bike with a known good battery from a vehicle that is NOT running. starts now? it's your battery. does NOT start now? post back with results.

 

[sivilized]

If you don't have a manual I can email you one in PDF form.

 

[Denny]

Cooter you have some recommendations that I still need to try. Here is what I've done so far:

I have one of those meters with the red and black prongs. measures volts and ohms and ****. I sorta know how to use it. the battery is putting out 13'ish volts (DC). The light does not dim when pushing the ignition. I have a manual and through using it did the following: I pulled out the starter relay (bottom?) and checked terminal 86, I believe, with the meter, put red prong into terminal 86 and grounded the other and pushed the button. I think I should be getting like 12 volts or so but the meter only goes from .001 to like .1 when I push the button, weird. I checked the kickstand bypass and it's fine. I checked the relays, Ignition and starter, the TOP relay clicks when I flip the red switch down, the killswitch? I checked the fuses, I had some blown and replaced them, also weird that everything seemed to work except the whole "starting" thing. I was thinking I found the problem, but it did the same.

Oh and I tried jumping it first from my car, didn't do it. I'm also doing all this in a parking garage so It's a pain in the junk.

So I'm PRETTY sure that it is NOT the battery, NOT the kickstand, and NOT the fuses or the relays. I tried wiggling the bars but not while pushing the ignition so I need to try that, I'll be damned if that works. I'll report back guys. thanks for the replies.

 

[Denny]

I read somewhere about the ignition switches liking to go bad. If this were the case would my headlights and everything else still come on. The wires just behind the ignition switch, where I put the key to start the bike, get hot. Not crazy hot, but definitely hot.

 

[Theycallmecrash]

Where in CA?

 

[Cooter]

It sounds like you have electricity, with the fuel pump priming, and the needles sweeping, and the relay click when you turn on the engine kill switch.

You may have isolated the problem when you checked the starter relay terminal. You checked 86, I can't remember if its 86 or maybe 85 so check that. You can also check the yellow start switch as well (the other end of that same circuit). Firstly, prep it to start and press the yellow button firmly, even wiggle it around with your thumb, maybe theres some corrosion on the switch terminals in the housing.

Next, take off that switch housing. I can show you where to check to see either a) there's no supply voltage to that switch or b) theres no contact through the switch. It will eliminate a lot of possibilities right away.

 

[Denny]

San Diego, Crash. Haven't taken off the switch housing yet. Will report back, probably tomorrow. Thanks again.

 

[Denny]

I tried to attach a pic of a flow chart for the starter troubleshooting. I've followed the flow to the right labeled "nothing clicks". I'll tell you my procedure, I pulled out the bottom relay( starter relay) and plugged my red prong into it's terminal 86 best that I could, pretty firmly. Then I ground the other prong onto a confirmed ground. As I said before, I get a change when I push the button from about .001 to .1 and yes my tester is in DC and set to Volts. I'm not sure what to make of this. The chart says check for "battery voltage" does .1 volts count?

I did disassemble my switch and put my red prong onto the BK/R (black & red) wire. pretty much the same story it went from like .03 to .3'ish when I push the ignition. I'm not sure what to make of the low voltage. I'm inclined to think I should be getting 12. Again the battery is fine I've checked it, charged it, and rechecked it.

Now I'm getting curious about the other portion of this flow chart starting with "Relay Clicks" My starter relay doesn't click but my ignition relay does, and it doesn't specify. So I checked the Solenoid terminals (I think). Whether I'm pushing the button or not I'm getting 12 volts where the positive lead from the battery comes in to the solenoid (seems like a DUH). On the other solenoid terminal I'm not getting 12.

I'm in over my head....

 

[Cooter]

Denny, you are bouncing around 10 different things at once, no wonder you're confused! An electrical circuit is exactly that. A circuit. The starting point is the battery, so you'll need to start there and slowly, methodically go through the 'circuit' until you get back to the battery. You will definitely find the problem.

When the manual says you should "get voltage" it means battery voltage, 12+VDC. A test light may be easier for you and will test this circuit just fine. A change from .1 to .3 isn't anything other that a cheap digital meter.

When the manual asked if the relay clicks, it means the starter relay. The ignition relay is not the circuit you are testing.

Try a couple quick shortcuts before we actually do this the right way...

1) At the switch housing where you tested the Black/red wire... do you have 12V on the other wire that goes to the yellow button? I forget the color, but this beer is delicious.

2) At the relay where you're testing the #86 terminal, do you have 12V at the #30 terminal (the sideways one)?

3) At the solenoid, you'll have 12V at the big wire that goes to the battery, the other big wire goes to the starter, so it will only have 12V while cranking. There should be 2 small wires there too. One will be ground, the other should show 12V while the yellow button is pressed (It won't right now, but if you jump 12v to it, the bike will crank over).

4) Look at the relays. If they have the same number on them (regardless of color) they are interchangeable. Swap the start one with another (not the ignition one that clicks) and see what happens.

That's all the short cuts I got for ya. Personally I think the yellow button isn't getting power to it. The red kill switch in the same housing turns on the ignition and also arms that yellow button. Check it out while it's apart.

 

[Theycallmecrash]

Sone good Info here, but if it starts to become too time consuming let me know, I own a small moto repair shop called Moto Enthusiasts up in Vista. I specialize in Buells own 9 myself an EBR and a Honda Grom.
[email protected]

 

[Denny]

OK guys big progress today trying to get this thing going. I jumped the starter relay 30-87 and it did indeed crank. Which tells me my ignition switch (key hole) is fine, I think.

After that I thought about everything I've learned from this is, and it has to be that damn yellow button. I took the housing apart once more, I was checking for continuity between the white and red and the black and red wire, seemed logical (the two that are attached to the copper piece that the yellow ignition button contacts when pushed.) I had a prong in one hand touching a terminal, the other prong in my mouth touching the other terminal and the other hand on the switch. Apparently that's how my Buell likes it, because much to my surprise it started cranking. I had it apart the other day pushing the button and no cranking, but once I used my mouth thats all it took.

SO, IT'S THE SWITCH. good call

I kept playing with it, took it all apart nothing looks to corroded, so why wasn't it working? The ignition button works fine when I have the housing apart, but when I get everything snapped up it doesn't work AGAIN. Take it apart, it works. Put it back on, nothing. I eventually found that the black wire I believe is being pushed down onto the white when it's on the handlebar. I tried wiggling them out of each others way and putting it back on, now it's intermittent at best.

Any ideas? If I need a new part I wouldn't even know what to buy at this point, the entire housing? I'm happy at least I know what it is. Although bad news is the entire time I was testing this button, the bike never actually started, hoping it is just bad gas. And the battery died in the process so here I am taking a break.