help please-starting propblem

[Woe257]

I just attempted to take my "06 out of winter storage. I put the battery back in. The instrument panel lights, etc all turn on. The bike goes thu it's cycle up whine when I turn the key on, clock starts, leds all show up for fuel, miles, numbers, etc, but....It just makes a buzzing noise when I try starting it. starter does not turn over. It just makes a buzzing sound. No headlights, and the horn is very quiet sounding. The battery connections are tight.

What's wrong ? Bad battery, fuses ?, something else ?????????

The battery was on a tender this winter in my basement. This is a "new" '06 carry over from a dealer when I bought it mid summer last year. It was fine all year and when I parked it for the winter.

I don't have an easy way to just haul it in to a dealer or I would. Besides many of you seem to be very knowledgable and helpfull and can maybe shed some light and walk me thru how to try to resolve this. Clearly, I'am no mechanic.

 

[urbanj]

The buzzing may be the starter relay not getting enough juice to energize. its hard to tell over the computer but i'd say the batt is bad. do you have a multimeter? if you can see what the battery voltage is when trying to crank that would help.

what kind of charger did you have? was it automatic or just a constant low amp charger.

 

[Woe257]

I had a tender hooked up. I don't have a meter to check the batter output. I'm actually hoping it is the battery which means, at least, a simple fix unless someone can come up with having this same problem and a different idea and fix. I'll have to wait until Monday and then pull the battery and bring it in.

Thanks for the reply. If you have other comments, they are appreciated.

 

[urbanj]

well without anything to check the battery its hard. if you can lift the tank when you try to start it you see if the buzz is coming from the relay on top of the battery. if its from there you dont have enough juice. actually you said the horn was feint so that probably confirms it too. id put my money on the batt since everything worked fine until you took the battery out for storage. hopefully it all works out for you. but get it checked to be sure. batteries are expensive

 

[Woe257]

Yeah,
Frustrating. Due to weather here and flooding, haven't been able to even think about riding until now. Thought in a hour or so I would be on the bike riding down the road. I have a Goldwing that I'll work on tomarrow but I don't think I can get it from the storage shed to the road thru the mud, whereas my FZ6......Again thanks for replying.

 

[bcityroller]

Not sure about the buzzing noise but I did drain the battery by leaving the key on for bit one day - still had lights, dash, etc but not enough to start it so it's possible it's the battery. You could try to jump it - if it starts battery, if it doesn't likely something else got inadvertently bumped over the winter.

 

[CanadianFZ6]

Headlights don't come on until the engine starts, so don't worry about that.... I have never used a battery tender and never remove the battery from any of my bikes during winter storage. I just peak charge the batteries every few weeks or so... Even after 4 months on storage never had a bike not start on the first push...

 

[chicagogreg]

Sounds like a bad battery -- I had exact same thing happen just after I got my "carryover" '06. Dealer replaced it FoC and no issues since then! Good luck!

 

[bluenova]

I take it there is no sign of corrosion around the terminals or cable clamps?

 

[Woe257]

No, everything is clean and tight. What concerns me is the buzzing sound during attempted starts and why battery would go bad so suddenely. No headlights, not just dim lights, yet the instrument panel is good. (weak horn though) I quess much lower draw but....

 

[alanrim]

why battery would go bad so suddenely

'cause that's what gel batteries do, it is not unheard for them to fail during a ride.

 

[scoobydrvr]

+1 on all the battery comments. My car does the same thing when the battery dies. In it's case, the buzzing is the starter solenoid rapidly partially engaging and disengaging. There's just not enough juice to keep the coil energized, so it pops in and out really quickly. How old is the battery?

 

[Woe257]

I'll take the battery in Monday and get it tested. The battery was only used 4 months last summer ! The buzzing sound is definately coming from the relay cable/connector on the battery cover, I rechecked this today, as well as all connections (again)

Not sure if I can jump it from my wing battery without risking other damage or harming that battry too I think the manual talked about not using a regular battery charger. (just to see if the engine will turn over with more juice ?). Anyone know ? Other options ?