Hey guys, I've developed a bit of an issue and I've no time to dedicate to heavy troubleshooting. I'm looking for common problems to narrow it down.

The other day I was out riding and I went to hit start and nothing happend. I pumped clutch a couple of times and got into neutral and nothing. I held the button down and after a pause the starter engaged and started right up.

Yesterday, I went to ride and it wouldn't do nothing. I pulled the seat off and I can here the little box on top of the battery (what is it called?) clicking occasionally, not every time. I check the fuses and connections to it. All seemed fine. It push starts fine.

My initial thought was it was not grounded somewhere.

Oh, and yes the battery is good.

 

try cleaning your start button out. There are a few unsealed drain holes under the housing, and mine acted similar when dirt built up in there.

 

Little box on top of battery, most likely your starter solonoid.
The clicking sounds like not enough current being delivered to it.
ie: a corroded electrical connection like the starter button as said by "scooter86".
How is your battery condition?
Are all the cells up to the proper fluid level?
Do you have a volt meter to measure battery voltage when engine is turned off.
should be at least 12 volts.
A small battery hydrometer is your friend, this will be able to tell you
the condition of each individual cell.
Check before you charge the battery and after.
When charging check to see if every cell is bubbling good.
Very important to keep the top of the battery clear of mud after riding, or the moisture will make a connection between the two posts and drain down your battery.

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

You are correct kodiak i was referring to the solenoid. I finally thought of its name late last night. I'd like it to be a battery issue but, I really don't think it is. The battery did not seem to have any issues starting the other day when the issue sporadically occurred. I have a tester but, my brother has it on vacation and can't get access to for a couple more days. It's a sealed battery so I don't believe I can check fluid levels.

Physically the battery and all connections look good. Everything is clean and corrosion free. I need to check the starter button connections before I can get the tester.

 

Keep forgetting that the later model stuff are gell cell battery's.
Knowing what corrosion looks like on electrical connections is a plus for you, as that can be a big source of problems.
My son bought a Honda 300ex last year for a good price because it had all kinds of electrical issues previous owner new nothing about fixing.
The basic cables to the battery were a joke.
It would always stall or run like crapp when hitting a water hole.
but would run fine a few minutes later.
I sourced the problem to 2 bad connections near bottom of motor
New terminals and dialectric compound, and works great now.
The starter button was also corroded as well.

 

Oh ya. Electrical on these thing don't scare me. I have the tools and I'll track it down if it's electrical. Just time consuming and I'm bit short on that at the moment.

 

When you press and hold your starter button, does the solonoid click once
or several times?
One click while holding button could mean you have an issue with starter.
Several clicks while holding button could indicate not enough power going to solonoid
ie: weak battery or bad connection.

 

either weak battery, or bad connection, check both grounds on the bike, both the starter ground and the battery ground, and sometimes i've seen the corrosion on the inside of the connection and it didn't look like it on the outside(because of all the cleaning up after mudding cleared the initial corrosion on the outside)