Clicking sounds but won?t start
 

Hey guys, I have a 2003 Gas Gas 450 FSE that I?ve bought as a none runner.

It had apparently been stood a couple of years after the last owner failed to get it running.

I?ve just charged the battery to 13v and when I turn the ignition on I get two faint clicks (fuel pump or relay I believe?), but then when I press the starter button the starter solonoid just clicks, nothing else. I can hit the kill switch and the fuel pump/relay clicks again, then back again.

I?ve checked the fuses and they?re all there and none are blown.

I?ve noticed the rectifier at the front of the bike has been wired straight to the loom (someone has snipped a wire from where it goes in to a connector plug and has spliced it in to the loom, unsure why).

Any ideas where to look next?

I?ve never had fuel injection before so pretty clueless with it, I have a multimeter though lol.

Thanks in advance

I would be checking continuity between the starter +ve connection back to the relay and the starter body back to the frame and the -ve battery connection.

Also check both sides of the relay. The unswitched side should be at battery voltage all the time and the switched side should go from 0 to battery voltage when you press the button. Work through step by step and trace the connections.

The relay may have failed. They carry high currents across the switch contacts and they will burn out eventually.

If power gets all the way to the starter motor +ve connector when you press the button, then the starter may be kaput. If you are confident in doing so, you could strip the starter motor and clean it all out. My guess is that it would probably need new carbon brushes as these wear out. If you are not used to stripping motors, don't do it. There are lots of things that will go ping across the workshop and they can be a sod to put back together. Best left to someone who knows or grit your teeth and buy a new one. Better still, borrow a friend's starter and try that to confirm that yours is dead.

If you can kickstart or bump start the bike, the fuel injection must be working but leaving a bike standing for any length of time with fuel in it will gum everything up and you may need to clean the injector(s) themselves. Simple to do if you remove them from the bike and use a 9v radio battery to open the injector whilst squirting carb cleaner through. Jeff Slavens and Motion Pro have YouTube videos on the subject.

Good luck.