Downtown 300i Won't Turn Over

[Fixinguys]

Hello,

Recently left my seat open and the battery died. Charged it up and it's been working fine, but yesterday I had a tough time getting it to turn over. Messed with the side stand, both brake levers, (yesterday it would only start when depressing the front brake lever) kill switch, and starter switch. Today it won't turn over at all, though I've messed with everything again, including turning the handlebars back and forth in case there's a chafed wire shorting or such. I'm away from my tool box so I can't take the seat pan out to check the fuses...
...any ideas?

Thanks!

[nushipwright]

if you over depleted your batt, you have done irreversible damage to it. (irreversible chemical reaction) you can recharge it. it will pick up some charge and right off the charger it will provide enough juice to start the engine fooling you into believing it's OK, but it's probably dead. it lost most of its capacity and self discharge became high. will self discharge at a high rate, overnight for example. any lead acid battery that can only hold 70% or less of its rated capacity can be considered a dead lead acid battery as they say.

[Fixinguys]

Thanks for the reply- you're probably right. The head lights and dash lights are pretty bright, but the voltage could still be too low to crank it. I'll pop for the new batt, and see how she goes.

Thanks again!

Steve

[nushipwright]

yes. try with another battery. preferably new one or one you're sure is in good condition and see what happens. let us know how things turn out!

[nushipwright]

any news?

[Fixinguys]

Finally got back in town to work on my scoot, and the battery wasn't the problem. I hooked up the new one only to get the exact same result. I checked the ignition fuse and it looks good, but I tried a spare anyway and still no-go. Checked the wiring harness to the kickstand but it appears intact. It's not acting like a starter or starter solenoid issue, so I'm suspicious of the ignition switch itself, and I'm going to poke around in the handlebars and see if I can come up with something.

To be continued...

[Gilesplus]

I know thread is a few weeks old, but it sounds similar to a problem I had.

Description of the problem was similar to yours, except that I could hear everything start when I turned the key - fuel pump, lights came on etc. just the starter button had no effect.

Turns out it was a faulty brake handle sensor - you might be able to confirm this by watching if your brake lights come on when you squeeze the handles.

Another diagnostic it simply to bridge the switch in the handlebars - if the bike then turns over you know the switch is causing the problem - don't ride like this as your brake light will be on permanently.

I was told that they are a fairly fragile switch that has a limited lifespan. They are cheap (5 swiss francs / 6 USD ) and not very difficult to replace.

Hope this helps

Giles

[zombie]

Same can be said for all the switched involved... Kill switch, and kick stand switches are cheap, and prone to fail. Some PB Blaster in them can usually bring them back to life.