Weidest thing I've come across

[bshahan]

Hello all, I'm hoping someone can give me some advice on this, I searched the board and unless I worded something wrong I didn't find what I was looking for.

I took my bike out for a quick little ride today, about 7 miles, stopped off at a store was in there maybe 10 minutes, came back out to the bike and as I was putting stuff in the saddlebags I noticed I put the ignition in "Park" mode, No biggie wasn't on long enough to cause any problems. Before I forget... my ride is a 2001 VS800.

I get back on the bike turn the key to the "On" position, pull clutch, press the start button.. and nothing.. I get to looking and I notice that all lights had gone off. My first thought was I blew a fuse, but when I checked the fuses all were good. I called my wife who came to my aid bringing me my multi-meter, battery tested good which it should as it's only about 2 weeks old. Rechecked the fuses and again tested good.

I checked everything, I pulled the seat and made sure all plugs had a good connection, but every time I turned the key I had no power. So I had to make the call of shame and borrow a trailer. Load it up, try it again... nothing.

I get home and after removing the straps, I check it again... Everything lights up as it should, fires right up with no problems.

Any ideas of where I should start checking for any problems? I've had this bike for about 4-1/2 to 5 years and the only problem I've had is blown fuses (operator error on my part) and replacing the battery. Is it common on these bike for the ignition to go bad because that's the first thing I can think of. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Brian

[hillsy]

Sounds like you may have an issue with your ignition switch or associated wiring. Seeing as this has only happened after you set the switch to park I would suspect the switch.

They can be pulled apart and cleaned - good idea to put the switch in a large zip-loc bag then pull the back off it so you don't lose bits. The back contact plate is spring loaded.

[Herb]

Check battery connections, make sure they are clean and tight and have the battery load tested.

[navigator]

Check battery connections, make sure they are clean and tight and have the battery load tested.

+1 probably a loose bolt on the battery.

[bshahan]

Thanks for the responses, I’ll start with double checking the battery terminals, if that don’t work I’ll mess with the ignition switch.

[WintrSol]

The terminals on the stock battery have little brass adapters, and sometimes the bolts that hold them are about 1 thread too long, and bottom before actually tightening. Solution: star washers! And, yes:

[bshahan]

The terminals on the stock battery have little brass adapters, and sometimes the bolts that hold them are about 1 thread too long, and bottom before actually tightening. Solution: star washers! And, yes:

I checked the adapters and conpared the bolts that came with the new battery with the old ones and they were about 4 threads to long. Good thing I kept the old ones because so far that seems to have solved the problem. When I posted this I didn’t even think about checking the battery cables because I had recently changed it and knew I had them “tight”. But I guess I didn’t give the wires a little wiggle to check to make sure they were snug.

I greatly appreciate the suggestions that were provided and I can’t believe I didn’t even think about checking the battery.

Thanks,
Brian