Intermittent Starting

[emt200x]

Ok, I recently ha an issue with my 2007 GZ250 that I wanted to share here in case the info can be of use to others.

After winter the battery was dead/dying. I had to jump start it for about a week before replacing the battery. During that week the neutral light was going in and out. Sometimes it would come on in neutral, sometimes not. On Friday of that week, I went to jump it, and nothing happened. I was scared. I knew the battery was dying so I replaced it, but the fact that it didn't fire up when I tried to jump it the last time still lingered in the back of my head. Something still wasn't right. New battery did nothing. So a buddy of mine came over to the house to take a look at it. We took that tank off and proceeded to poke around, ensuring electrical connections were clean/tight, etc. Out of nowhere, the neutral light comes back on at this point, and the push start fires it up. *Celebrations* It continued to fire up most days. One day it didn't, so I jiggled some of the wires, pushed the button again and all was well - fired up. At some point I noticed that the kickstand was also killing the bike when it was in neutral. Not good. That combined with the intermittent neutral light made me think that there was some kind of short somewhere on one of the sensors or something. Maybe that's what was causing it to 'not start' - the bike was in neutral, all was good, but maybe it 'thought' it was in first or one of the other safety switches was not letting it start. I finally took it in to the shop, and it turns out it was the neutral light bulb itself. I guess the connections (in the bulb) were strung up just enough to start sometimes and light up at others. Not sure, but replacing the bulb solved it all. Starts every time, light works, kickstand no longer kills it in neutral. *Celebrations*

[alanmcorcoran]

Good to know. My neutral light is sometimes on and sometimes not but I've not had any trouble starting maybe because I always start the bike with the kickstand up and the clutch pulled in. Always start all my bikes that way. I think it is safest. I don't trust the neutral light. I general roll backward between my parked 4W vehicles, start up in the street, drop it into first and off I go.

[BillInGA]

Those intermittent electrical problems can be a real headache. Glad it was an easy fix for you.

BTW, where is Houost?

[JWR]

I would bet Houst is short for Houston???

[emt200x]

Haha, yes it's Houston. Unfortunately, I have to cancel celebrations a second time - it wouldn't start this morning - WTF. I was so sure we were good once the kickstand stopped killing it after the bulb replacement. The tech who replaced it said that it acts like a fuse in a way - which made sense in a way. So the whole problem isn't solved yet, but the bulb *had* to be part of it given what it fixed on the kickstand switch. Anyway, I'm taking it back to that shop this afternoon(in walking distance...), and will update what we find here. Any ideas before then would be greatly appreciated.

*facepalm*

[mrlmd1]

I wasn't aware that the neutral light is in series with the starting circuit, acting as a "fuse". Have to check the wiring diagram to see that.
Bypass the kickstand switch and see if the bike starts. If it does, then your switch may be faulty or dirty.
There is also another safety switch in the clutch handle which has to be pulled in to start the bike.

[alantf]

I really doubt that the bulb had anything to do with the problem. It just isn't logical. What I think (and it's just a guess at best ) is that by pure coincidence the side stand (or whatever you find to be the problem) just decided to behave itself at the same time as you replaced the bulb - pure coincidence - as happens quite frequently with things electrical/electronic. If you go to the manual that's posted on this site you'll find electrical drawings to show you where to put the shorts across each component in the starting circuit (safety devices) to find out which of them is faulty. One of the most frequent problems is the red cut out switch. rocking this on/off a few times, or cleaning it has solved the problem for a lot of us. I'm not saying that this is the problem but it's a likely place to start, followed by the side stand switch & clutch switch. Good luck & good hunting. :2tup:

BTW, the tech who said that the bulb acts like a fuse is -well, Um, Er, "not to be trusted". Any other good shops you could take it to?

[blaine]

Originally Posted by alantf

BTW, the tech who said that the bulb acts like a fuse is -well, Um, Er, "not to be trusted". Any other good shops you could take it to?

It didn't make any sense to me either.I'm with Alantf. :plus1:

[Water Warrior 2]

Originally Posted by blaine

It didn't make any sense to me either.I'm with Alantf. :plus1:

When I read this earlier I couldn't think of anything polite to say about the tech. The bulb will act as an indicator, that is it's job. It is not designed to act as a fuse and I doubt very much the wiring harness is designed to allow the fuse function.

[BillInGA]

Originally Posted by Water Warrior

When I read this earlier I couldn't think of anything polite to say about the tech. The bulb will act as an indicator, that is it's job. It is not designed to act as a fuse and I doubt very much the wiring harness is designed to allow the fuse function.

It acts as a fuse in the sense that it's failure interrupts the neutral switch's circuit to the side-stand relay. If the neutral light is not illuminated, then the side-stand relay thinks the bike is not in neutral. However, the bulb is not a fuse and doesn't function as such. Not the clearest way to explain an open circuit.