Very odd starting issue. long but entertaining :)

[DavidR8]

Hopefully I can lean on my old Twin friends for some perspective on a starting problem on my 2006 Tiger

She has given my trouble two days in a row.

Scenario: she is completely stock.
Fires up in the morning ok, a few more cranks than in July but it's also 50 degrees outside.
Ride to work, using the stock grip heaters. Park, she sits all day from 0830 to 1700 hrs.

Yesterday and today, after work she wouldn't start. Almost.

Yesterday: turned the key on, all indicators good, lights etc. Hit the starter, click click click..... Not good. I see the dash clock is at 1 AM
Ok, let's try that again. Turn the key, all lights etc good, hit the starter and she fires right up. Phew, put on the helmet, pack the gear and away.

Today: same morning routine. After work was a bit different. Turn the key, hit the starter, one click only. Clock is at 1 AM. I also note the trip meter is also at zero. Might have been that way yesterday too.

So I turn the key off, wait 20 or 30 secs and try again. Absolutely nothing, no dash lights, zip. Rinse and repeat about five times over a period of a few minutes. Then I'm on the phone to my friendly emergency roadside assistance for a boost

While I'm providing them details, I decide to try again. Key on, lights are now on. OK, hit the starter and away she goes. Ok, I'm happy but perplexed.

Last night I forgot to put the charger on till about 11 pm. Oddly, last night it immediately went to trickle mode. I was a bit surprised but hey, it's a "smart charger" so I was worried enough to pull the seat and check with my Fluke multimeter.

Tonight however, I purposely left it off till 11 pm to see if them same thing would happen. Pull the seat, confections are tight. Resting voltage 12.65v. Seems right. (I have pretty good 12v system understanding because I designed a three-battery, 250 Ah system for my boat)

With the multimeter attached, I turn the on the key, drops to about, 12.11v. Bump the starter a few times and see 11.4-11.1v. Ok. On goes the charger. I watch the voltage rise quickly past 12v and then slow down as it passes 13.5v as I would expect. But this is definitely not what happened last night when it went to trickle immediately.

I fully expect her to fire right up in the morning.

I checked the grip heaters and they don't operate with the key off, nor is there a short to ground.

So what I don't understand is the 'no start, followed up by a roaring start' scenario. A faulty key might be the issue if it can't pass enough voltage to the relay but that seems unlikely.

I should note that it has been very damp and foggy here for the last week or more. Maybe a damp connection?

Thoughts, oh wise people of the interweb?

[John Stenhouse]

My guess would be connections on the ignition barrel, the solder breaks and sometimes it works and sometimes it don't

[Chris Canning]

Sounds like mine when I got home from Spain the other week,Reg/Rec.

[Mustang]

Sounds like it has all the symptoms of the faulty key switch . pretty common on the triumphs .
and if it is not the switch it could be the regulator as Chris says .........but I'd start with the key switch because of the way you describe the panel lights and clock . Wiggle the harness around near the switch with the key switch on and see if you can get the panel lights to flicker , if they do I think you will have found your fault .

[Bixxer Bob]

I'm just waiting for mine to drop me in the dark, in the rain, with no phone signal, miles from home.  It does similar in that I occasionally get only a click instead of a crank.  It's not the clutch switch, I thought it was when flexing the clutch sometimes cleared it so I serviced that.  And I don't have the flickering lights, so I think contact in the switch assy, ign switch or solenoid.  SO really I should get on and fix the damn thing.

[DavidR8]

Thanks gents.
I did drop in a new battery today as the original didn't load test well.

But I'll be doing a full wire-wiggle diagnostic this weekend.

[Chris Canning]

Oddly enough I put a new battery on mine before we went away and then realised things were not right  ,we arrived outside the house and the bike stopped,pressed the button it wouldn't turn the motor over didn't matter we were home,went back 5 minutes later turned over and started like a good'un.

[metalguru]

Agree with the key switch connections, also check the starter relay, just follow the +ve lead. The connections can look ok but may be bad. Check also the earth/engine lead.
Definately bad electrical connection and arcing to make a connection when high amps passed, ie starting.

[Bigfeesh]

I had the very same symptoms with random starting etc, the solder had broken at base of ignition switch, easily fixed but every time you moved the bars it moved the broken solder joint, giving baffling symptoms  until I managed to diagnose it with the help of a switched on AA fitter.

[DavidR8]

So a week with the new battery and all seems good. No starting issues and the bike seems to run more crisply. So far, so good.