I have a 2003 Meanstreak 1500, and it did the weirdest thing to me today. Yesterday, I tried starting it up, but the engine wouldn't even crank. I had lights on, the fuel pump was priming like it should, then when I hit the starter, I got one click and then nothing. I have had issues before with a dying battery, but usually the engine just cranks without starting, or the starter does a rapid fire clicking. Anyways, today I bought myself a multimeter to measure the voltage on the battery, and it read around 12.5V, which I figured would be enough to at least crank the starter. I decided that I would jump start it. I rolled my bike over to my car (which is in a parking garage, so I went down a level or 2), and stopped halfway to talk to some people. The person I talked to worked on bikes and ask me to try to start it to see if he knew what was wrong. I turn everything on and hit the starter and, to my disbelief, it worked. I have no idea why and was wondering if anyone could shed some light on the situation.

Thanks

 

hmm, loose connection to the starter relay or a relay going out?

Good luck on the find and welcome to KF

 

thanks for tip. i'll look into that. Thanks!

 

oh, and maybe the starter button is not making good contact when pressed.

 

Yep^. Sometimes a little corrosion can creep in the switch. The key switch can also get a little wonky. I have to turn my key on/off/on occasionally. Make sure kickstand is up, fuel on, etc. Grounds are tight and right. Keep us posted.

 

Started the bike up and went to work today with no problems noted. I still haven't had time to tinker with it yet. I was thinking that fuel might have flooded the engine and rolling it cycled the pistons so the spark plugs could actually function. As to why there was still fuel in the engine, or why it didn't evaporate, I have no answer.

Electrical problems are the worst because of all the little nooks and crannies you have to check to make sure the wires are good. I might break the bike down a little bit more this weekend to do a good sweep of everything.

 

I finally figured out what the issue was. The battery was bad. I brought the bike to the dealership and described the problems I was experiencing. They looked it over and determined the battery wasn't holding a charge properly. They replaced the battery and the spark plugs and now the bike starts up like it should! Thanks for help everyone!

 

Congrats on the fix! Good to hear it

Now, lets see some pics of the ride