Relay click

[aiass]

I've been having this problem with this bike for a long time and I cannot for the life of me figure it out. I'm going to tell the story of how it came to be. (2007 fz6n s2)

I first got the bike and no issues it was great until around a few weeks into it, I went to start it but didn't hold the starter long enough and it didn't start. I pressed the starter again and got the single click. I assumed it was just low on battery so I bump started it and it worked fine. Then intermittently it would start then not start, with the final(or so I thought) time it barely turned the engine over with a very low squeal and was not able to start it. I bump started it every time after that except for once or twice where the engine turned over once or so but not enough to fully start. Now a month or so ago my headlight went out and I checked the bulb first, replaced it, and the bike suddenly started great. It only did this once, and the headlight still didn't work. I turn it off and go to start again and I get the dreaded single click. I noticed when I was doing this that there was a wire going to my headlight that was exposed, it didn't look corroded or anything just exposed so I wrapped it with tape and went about my day. I then looked to my headlight fuse and saw it was out, I replaced it and my headlights worked fine. I've been trying to tackle the starter problem lately and here is what I've tried:

took battery to autozone and tested, their machine said it was good
cleaning terminal and all nuts holding it on to the starter motor
testing voltages (12.9 off, 12.5 on, 12.3 pressing starter, 14.3 running at all rpms)
tried a new starter and relay by just connecting it to battery but not installing it(gave me the same single click just slightly higher pitched)
manually grounding the bike by removing ground to battery and attaching jumper cable to frame and negative terminal(tried for both original starter and relay) and still got the click

One other thing is that part of me thinks it was originally a regular fz6 not naked because of the black tank along with the missing top light on the headlight but I'm not sure on this. Also the title says just fz6 but I'm not too sure if it would say fz6n (texas title)

The fuse going out plus the exposed wire in the headlight has me thinking this is a wiring issue but I have no idea where to start with any of that, does anyone know if the headlight circuit could interfere with the starter one or really just any ideas? I have a multimeter.
Thanks for any help

 

[Motogiro]

Welcome to our great forum!

First I don't think there were any naked FZ6 meant for the US market So your bike was likely faired. That shouldn't mean there is an electrical problem unless some one was not experienced with electrical.
I would start by being sure the ground from the negative battery lead has good contact with any engine and frame points. You might add a heavy gauge from the negative battery lead to the engine to eliminate the possibility it's a bad ground.
If this is now a pretty repeatable issue, get 2 meters and record voltage at the starter and voltage at the battery during the starting function.
If you see a good voltage drop at the battery (11 to 10.5 vdc) during the start function That indicates a load via the starter and you should have starter function and your ground is likely good.
If you see no drop at the battery and see good voltage (12 ish vdc) at the starter terminal but no starter engagement then you have a poor or non existent ground.
If you see 11 to 10.5 vdc drop at the starter and the battery you have another problem. Starter could be bad and although I've never heard of it happening, maybe the spraque clutch is bad.
Here's another thought. When I load test a battery I like to use a real actual load. I've used a load tester I got from Harbor freight 10 years ago and it has an actual resistive pile that loads the battery in real time. Nothing against the computerized load tester but the old stress test might show a defect in the battery that evades the other type tester.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Your second paragraph sounds like an issue I had several months ago, a bad starter.
(About 35,000 miles at the time).

Push the starter, just a click. Hot wire from battery direct to starter lug, nothing..
Push starts right up...

You can remove the starter, two bolts and pull the end cap off. Tight but very do-able..
There's two brushes in there. One of my brushes was just flat wore out(see below).

Confirm if that's the issue, order the part, etc. If nothing found, you can bench test and re-install-
Just takes some time...

You should be able to repair with just that assembly as it's not expensive and
pretty easy to fix.. OEM as well, no aftermarket junk...

 

[aiass]

Thanks everyone

I realized that when I was testing the new starter I didn't ground it so it didn't work, put in new starter and started right up

 

[Ottys4]

I've been having this problem with this bike for a long time and I cannot for the life of me figure it out. I'm going to tell the story of how it came to be. (2007 fz6n s2)

I first got the bike and no issues it was great until around a few weeks into it, I went to start it but didn't hold the starter long enough and it didn't start. I pressed the starter again and got the single click. I assumed it was just low on battery so I bump started it and it worked fine. Then intermittently it would start then not start, with the final(or so I thought) time it barely turned the engine over with a very low squeal and was not able to start it. I bump started it every time after that except for once or twice where the engine turned over once or so but not enough to fully start. Now a month or so ago my headlight went out and I checked the bulb first, replaced it, and the bike suddenly started great. It only did this once, and the headlight still didn't work. I turn it off and go to start again and I get the dreaded single click. I noticed when I was doing this that there was a wire going to my headlight that was exposed, it didn't look corroded or anything just exposed so I wrapped it with tape and went about my day. I then looked to my headlight fuse and saw it was out, I replaced it and my headlights worked fine. I've been trying to tackle the starter problem lately and here is what I've tried:

took battery to autozone and tested, their machine said it was good
cleaning terminal and all nuts holding it on to the starter motor
testing voltages (12.9 off, 12.5 on, 12.3 pressing starter, 14.3 running at all rpms)
tried a new starter and relay by just connecting it to battery but not installing it(gave me the same single click just slightly higher pitched)
manually grounding the bike by removing ground to battery and attaching jumper cable to frame and negative terminal(tried for both original starter and relay) and still got the click

One other thing is that part of me thinks it was originally a regular fz6 not naked because of the black tank along with the missing top light on the headlight but I'm not sure on this. Also the title says just fz6 but I'm not too sure if it would say fz6n (texas title)

The fuse going out plus the exposed wire in the headlight has me thinking this is a wiring issue but I have no idea where to start with any of that, does anyone know if the headlight circuit could interfere with the starter one or really just any ideas? I have a multimeter.
Thanks for any help

Hi Aiass

I had the the same issue, it just clicked a lot, after a months I bought a new battery, still had the same issue....then I bought this -- Starter Motor Relay Solenoid For Yamaha FZ6 S2 600 SHG Fazer 4S81. (Purchased from ebay £39.95) My bike now starts all the time every time...
A very happy chappie.... I've got a spare battery now ... oh! I've owned my Yamaha FZ6 s2 09plate for 10years 8months also 2nd owner 🏍

 

[Gary in NJ]

Hi Aiass

I had the the same issue, it just clicked a lot, after a months I bought a new battery, still had the same issue....then I bought this -- Starter Motor Relay Solenoid For Yamaha FZ6 S2 600 SHG Fazer 4S81. (Purchased from ebay £39.95) My bike now starts all the time every time...
A very happy chappie.... I've got a spare battery now ... oh! I've owned my Yamaha FZ6 s2 09plate for 10years 8months also 2nd owner 🏍

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