I'm having a problem with a '04 kodiak 450. The engine wont crank over when I push the starter button, instead there is a very loud buzzing/rapid clicking noise coming from under the seat right near the battery compartment where the cables run to from the battery. I have charged the battery with a battery tender for 48 hours and checked the voltage 12.7v and the lights seem bright but it wont crank over. I recently bought this machine used and it had sat unused for several months before i bought it. It will pull start (who needs the gym [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] and run fine and sometimes will restart with the electric starter right after I shut it down. Wait a while, wont crank. Does this sound like the battery or Starter relay. Any way I can bypass starter relay on this model without tearing the whole thing apart? Also if it is a bad battery is there any way to recover it like an equalize charge? its a sealed agm yuasa battery. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

I would guess that your battery is toast

It can be deceiving by reading 12 volts but that doesnt mean it can handle a load. A dead battery can sit on a charger all day and not take a deep charge. Before you get to crazy about ripping out your starter system try a fresh battery and see what happens [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]


Unfortunatly there isn't much you can do to save or fix a bad battery. There are some rumors floating around about different ways of waking up a bad battery but I think they are all bogus, and I won't share them cause it could be unsafe.

 

Pull each component from under the seat and unplug each and spray with contact cleaner.....then apply dielectric grease to the plug and plug each back in.
That might be all thats wrong.

 

If you try to crank it WHILE YOUR HEADLIGHTS ARE ON, and your headlights stay bright, then your battery is fine.

 

You can take the battery out, and bring it to any auto parts store, like napa or autozone, and have it load tested for free. Thats the difinitive answer on whether a battery is good or not.
The buzz you hear is the starter solinoid. The battery has enough juice to engage the electromagnet, but when the starter load comes on line, the voltage drops too far, and the elctromagnet cuts out. This happens very rapidly, and thats why it sounds like a buzz, or rapid clicking.
As long as youre pulling the battery out, clean up the connections, and get all of the oxidization off the terminals, and if they look real crusty, that could be the problem. But still have the battery load tested.

 

Thanks guys. Had the battery load tested and it was bad. Bought a fresh one and works good. thanks for the help. BTW whats the best way to maintain a battery? Leave battery tender hooked up all the time or only for a couple days each month?

 

Either way should be fine. Youll see when you hook up the battery tender...if the light goes green right away, then the battery is holding the charge just fine, and a couple of times a month should be fine. But it wont hurt anything, if its left hooked up all the time.

 

i had the same problem. bought my kodiak 04 brand new. 2 days later could not use the electrict start. same problems you have. in my case the battery had a bad cell, came from factory with a bad cell. new battery no more problems