Yamaha TRX850 Enthusiasts Forum

So the TRX's hasn't been used since Sept last year - shameful admission I know but there it is! As family commitments were zero today I decided to don my riding gear, turn the heated grips on and go for a quick blast. But no.....

Turn on ignition. Press button and nowt but an annoying clicking sound. I presumed this is merely a flat battery despite having the bike plugged into a trickle charger over winter?! So I tried to bump it on the hill outside my house. 3 nice skids later I gave up on this. Went to dig out the jump leads to find one broken! New set of leads latter I connected them to the car, car engine off and still no joy and the irritating clicking from under the seat. Tried with the car engine running and lights on but still the same? Rectifier?

I will check all the obvious connectors to ensure nothings loose and a bad earth is to blame. The clicking is coming from the CDi unit near the battery.

Q. What does the CDi do?

Q. Is rectifier failure common/likely?

I put a multimeter on the batter and its showing 11.5 - 13v during the various attempts I've made outlined above so I presume its OK?

Any thoughts/experiences appreciated. I have a basic mechanical knowledge/ability but I'm at a bit of a loss now and don't want to start buying new batteries, rectifiers and such like needlessly if its something blindingly obvious! Thanks in advance. If all else fails I can trailer it to a mate who's a bike mechanic and will be able to diagnose with far more accuracy than I!

Corners...going no where!'

It's your battery

BTW, never turn a car on when attempting to jump start a bike - you can very easily FUBAR all of your electrics

and the click is the starter relay trying to energise but can't because of the battery/bad connection/fubar relay - I'm sure it lives near the CDI

Thanks for the responses guys. I've been out in the garage this pm checking for anything blindingly obvious but nothing identified. The more I thought about it the more I was convinced it was the battery and a cell(s) has died completely. Same thing happened to a Hornet I had a while back. The battery is 11-years old after all.

When I tried jumping it with the car engine running I had the car lights and various ancilliaries on to reduce the amount of voltage going to my iccle battery.

Time to order up a new battery.

Moral of the story: ride more often!!

Corners

Corners R Us wrote: Moral of the story: ride more often!!

Corners

or buy a better trickle charger. I've had bikes hooked up to Optimates for over 12 months and with nothing more than fresh fuel, have fired up straight away

phuk72 wrote:

Corners R Us wrote: or buy a better trickle charger. I've had bikes hooked up to Optimates for over 12 months and with nothing more than fresh fuel, have fired up straight away

PB magazine will be held responsible on that front! I'm using the CTEK item I got free with my last subscription! Time to revert to a trusty Optimate?!

Corners

Keep it in the living room, freezing weather wrecks weak batteries !!

Dave E

slow codger wrote: Keep it in the living room, freezing weather wrecks weak batteries !!

Dave E

I suspect if I ever undertook this suggestion I'd be consigned to the garage!! Cheaper in the long run to buy a new battery as divorce with 2 kids is considerably dearer!!

Corners

If the problem is the same using jumper leads, this eliminates the battery as the cause. Follow the positive cable to the starter relay.Check for clean tight connections. Check for a clean tight connection at the starter motor. Follow the negative cable to its connection. Make sure its clean and tight. Are you sure the motor is not locked up. If stored with a full tank with a faulty fuel tap or left on prime its possible to fill a cylinder with fuel and create a hydraulic lock.

£51 and a Varta OE spec battery later we have noise! Celebrated by removing the baffles for the full fat sound bouncing off the house walls!! Still not sure why car jump leads wouldn't prompt my bike into life? I presume the battery was flatter than a witch's tit (correct expression?).

Time to book an MoT as thats out next weekend. Might get round to riding it sometime.......

Corners

Yep witches are well known to ALL be flat chested,I concur with your expletive,use it myself.

Hmmmmmmmm I always thought it was " flatter than a shit carter's shoulder pad"

Slight afterthought but what grease do peeps use on their battery terminals. Is there a specific one for this applicaiton or shud I use some good old vaseline as I've heard others use? Pointers appreciated.

Corners

Corners R Us wrote:Slight afterthought but what grease do peeps use on their battery terminals. Is there a specific one for this applicaiton or shud I use some good old vaseline as I've heard others use? Pointers appreciated.

Corners

vaseline

vaseline is ok but the proper stuff is called dielectric grease do not use normal grease