Lights Stopped Working / Difficult Starting

[Christopher Ryan]

Good Day All,

This evening, my bike did nothing when I hit the starter. This was not new. Occasionally, I have to squeeze my clutch tighter and off she goes. The bike started on my second attempt.

However, my lights were not on. Since evening was approaching, I beat it for home.

When I got to my driveway, I turned off the bike and attempted to start it. It will not start. The starter attemts to turn but lacks the power.

Clearly, there is a charging / battery problem.

Since I love the Strom (Wee) and Suzuki, I expect this is no big deal.

Anybody else have the same no big deal?

Blessings,

Christopher.

[rcacs]

I had a similar problem with the headlight, but never starting troubles.

Checked the 2 fuses for the lights, no power at either one.

Tracked it down to the large yellow plug on the backside of the radiator. There was a slight amount of corrosion and the main power wire for the headlight within the connector shows sign of heat (probably due to the corrosion).

The easiest way to get at that plug is to remove the airbox, you can get your hand up the backside of the plastic shield to push the connector plastic pin to remove the connector from the shield. I then bypassed that connection by soldering in a new section to eliminate the plug (for that wire only). I cant quite recall the wire color, but I think it was either yellow or white. You will be able to see the discolouration in the plug.

I highly recommend getting yourself a Eastern Beaver headlight relay kit as well to eliminate future problems. I installed one, and an added bonus is that your headlights are even brighter than original.

http://www.easternbeaver.com/Main/Products/H4_Kits/h4_kits.html

Cheers!

[Jim Davis]

Do some tests. Try to start it in neutral to take the clutch switch out of the picture.

See if you can hear a click on the clutch switch, it shouldn't require you to squeeze the clutch lever extra hard to start the engine.

The headlight problem could be related or it could be separate. The bike uses the ECM to turn the headlights off during startup. If you do get it to start, take special note of the headlights. They should come on when you turn the key on, then go out when you push the start button. Then finally they should come back on after you release the start button.

In order to diagnose your problems I'd need complete descriptions of this startup sequence and any oddities you find about the clutch switch etc.

[rcacs]

Check for 12v power at the 2 headlight fuses(hi beam/lo beam). If there is NO power at these fuses (not blown), then you will find the problem where I described.

Cheers!

[Kidder]

What year is your bike? Maybe the battery is failing?

[Christopher Ryan]

I was away for a few days. Thanks for the replies.

I phoned a Honda dealer today. The service guy told me to spray around the starter button with W-D 40 before I spent money. It worked.

I now suspect that my occasional hesitation in starting was related to a sticky switch.

Some dealers are really helpful.

Blessings,

Christopher.

[rcacs]

Glad you found the problem. The headlight interuptor is actually within the starter button switch as well.

cheers!

[strombadier]

I just had the exact same problem,sluggish starter and intermitent headlights on my WEE K7.The starter would act like the battery was low or dead.The lights would come on with the ignition switch,go out when I hit the starter and not come back on. I sprayed the starter switch and normal operation returned!:D