Hello guys. I have a relatively new battery in there and when I try to start her I hear this nasty buzzing right in the selenoid/relay area where the 2 20 amp fuses go. I checked the fuses, All the connections seem ok (ground to the motor, power line to the starter) and it just buzzes as I press the starter button.

I did jump it off a car battery and it fired right up. Could the battery be bad? I charged it and put it on and same problem persists. Any other ideas? I want to get this beastie up quick.. I got a LONG distance girlfriend coming and I would like to get a ride in with her by next weekend. Any info would be most appriciated on resolving the matter.

BTW I read many posts on this and the only thing I saw that seemed to resolve it was replacing the battery. Bear in mind this battery that is in it is new and never had more than 20 min of ride time in my back yard on it.

 

Battery is likely bad. When you push the start button, the starter relay closes, sending high current to the starter. The high current flow forces the bad battery to drop in voltage. When voltage drops, the relay doesn't have enough voltage to stay closed, so it opens... stopping the current flow. when the current stops, the battery voltage rises to enough to close the relay again... and the whole thing repeats at about 10 or 20 times a second - it buzzes... on, off, on, off, on... buzzzz.

Charge your battey with an external charger, then try starting it. If it still chatters, replace the battery.

 

Is there a good battery to get for the Raptor to begin with? I really don't want to deal with this problem again. I know the Oddessey PC60 batteries does wonders for the DS650. Is there a comparable one for the Raptor?

 

you did charge the battery before you installed it right?

 

Yes I filled and charged the battery before I put it on the bike. I was told by a Ford mechanic bud of mine.. when you fill a battery should let it sit 24hrs and THEN charge it. That was a move I did not do. I charged it immediately after I filled it. Looks like the battery is bad. What I will do tonight if I get back early enough from work is yank out my DS battery and see if runs with that. If it does (which doesn't fit cause the DS Battery is wider) then it's proof in the pudding, battery is done.

 

The key to keeping the battery good for a long time is a less than 1A trickle (or maintenence) charging at least once every couple of weeks if the bike sits unused. Maintenence chargers are cheap; a lot cheaper than a new battery.

I have 4 quads, and 2 chargers... every weekend I trickle 2 of them for about 4 hours. Haven't had a battery problem in several years, once I started this program.

 

Okay I put a good (to my to my knowledge) DS battery in there. NO go. It buzzes faster than before and with lights on it buzzes. . Maybe a bad ground or the wire itself is bad. Is there more than one ground point? Only ground wire I can currently see is to the left side of the motor.

 

Only things that will make the voltage at the relay drop enough to chatter:

Bad battery
Bad battery connection
Bad positive battery connection at the relay
Bad connection at frame ground from battery
Bad positive or ground battery wire
Marginally bad starter
Too much compression or siezing motor causing starter to draw too much current

not very likely, since you said with a car battery it all worked fine:

Bad connection from CDI to relay
Bad ground connection at relay
Bad CDI
Bad Relay

What do the lights (neutral, temperature) do when you try to start it?

 

When I try to start it the neutral light dims and the oil light kicks in as it's pressed. A friend of mine is convinced it's a bad wire somewhere. What is the trick to run a bridge on the starter see if that results in anything.

 

Take a jumper cable and run just one side of it from the pos batt terminal to the battery terminal side of the relay... try it. If it now works, its the positive battery cable.

Then take same jumper and run it from the negative side of the battery to the the motor somewhere near the starter. try it. If it works, it's the negative battery cable or connection to the frame.

BTW, that's not the oil light that kicks in when you start, it's the over temp light. It turns on at startup as a bulb test.