V11 Sport won't start

[callison]

I went up to Performance Cycles in Sacramento California Saturday to get my TPS adjusted and purchase some stuff as well as ride the Breva. The Breva was really sweet. After adjusting the TPS, the dealer couldn't get the bike to start. So all of the relays were replaced under warranty. Five more minutes of trying produced a start, so the bike was moved to the parking lot. Then I couldn't get it to start. Five minutes of fiddling with the relays didn't accomplish anything. Then it started. I went to lunch. It started. I rode the 86 miles home and stopped for gas two miles from the house. Then it wouldn't start again and I finally called home for a ride and got my trailer. No room to work on bike in garage. Too many Guzzi's. Shed kit sitting alongside house. Time to put it up. 34 bags of gravel later (at 50lbs each), several trips to the hardware store for stakes and wood and such, I start putting up the shed. Night falls with only the walls up, shed foundation not level, floor doesn't like sitting on gravel. Sunday, tear down shed. More gravel. Re-level foundation, put down vapor barrier. Run out of staples. Switch to wifes stapler out of desk. Run out of vapor barrier material. Run to hardware store, buy staples and more plastic stuff. Put plywood down. Start putting up shed again. Wrong parts in box for roof. Back across town to where I bought the shed. Get correct parts. Finish shed. Put Ambassador and Sport 1100i in shed. Move California (now also inoperative with main seal leak and fuel leaks) alongside of house along with V65C. Now there's room in the garage.

 

Eventually, I found the problem. After taking apart most of the handlebars, relay brackets and some other stuff, it was probably one of two things (they both got undone at the same time). The clutch safety switch, or the connectors to the clutch safety switch. I believe it was the connectors this time. They are under the gas tank, snuggled down behind the left handlebar connector and stuff on the left side of the spine. There are two itty bitty wires. One grey, the other black. The grey and black wires go into a pair of bullet connectors, both of which are white/black, one is fed by the "Start" switch when that is pressed, and the other side feeds the coil to the starter relay switch. Alternatively, it could have been the clutch switch itself. It is a bit exposed and if you hit a very large insect, or a bird or a rock or some such, and the switch got pushed in closer to the clutch lever, it would put the switch in the wrong position to operate.

 

Now I have to put the bike back together. It was a very long weekend...

[Frank]

Carl,

 

On my '02 LeMans, I had the same problem. The bike wouldn't turn over sometimes. The only thing I found was the clutch switch connectors under the seat seemed to be the problem. When I pulled the connectors apart and reinserted them, the bike started. I put some grease on them and made sure they had good contact and never had the problem again. I traded this bike in on a '03 Rossa but when I traded it in, the only problem I had was the peeling engine paint.

 

I've been told that the relays on the '02 models were good and don't need to be replaced with Bosch relays.

 

Frank Long

[al_roethlisberger]

Yeah, my '02 just started this "no start" weirdness. And interestingly(and most telling) when it ehibits this behavior, a quick turn of the handlbars to the left, and it starts right up.

 

I think in my case it's pretty obvious that I fouled up the connectors just a bit while I was messing around under the tank doing my fuel-pump project. I'll take the tank off tomorrow and make it right.

 

It's inconvenient, but so far not a "stranding" failure... as since I'm pretty sure I know what is wrong, it really doesn't bother me too much.

 

...it's those issues that I can't track down the root cause that keep me up at night

 

al

[jrt]

One that got me was the ball in the front brake switch. I was messing around with my brake lever and apparently dislodged it. My brake light was stuck on, but I didn't realize the cause immediately. It was right about the time Carl posted his 'rear master cylinder rusting out' thread and also about the time I had been messing with the pegs, so I got confused (typical). Two freaking hours of pulling wires and greasing fittings, then I loosen the itty bitty switch on the bars and the ball seats itself.

 

Carl, I should have called you when I was putting a porch on my house- I didn't know you were such a burly-man. I know how it feels, though- I hauled 2000 pounds of concrete in 60 pound sacks for all the footings. Funny- the deck is larger than one floor of our house Raised in Texas- I just can't do small.

 

Good to hear you fixed the V11- I'll keep an eye on those things.

 

Cheers,

Jason

[mikie]

I saw this topic after posting my electrical problems topic a few minutes ago. Just wondered whether the motor was turning or not when you were attempting to start it?