now what?

[lincs1963]

Little help please, went out yesterday for an hour, bike going lovely after surgery on exup.
Stopped off and popped into b and poo for twenty minutes, came out, got on bike and fokked off. Called at mates house, no one in, got back on bike switched on and pressed starter, nothing.
Checked killswitch, fine, tried again, nowt.
Took helmet off removed seat and stared hopefully at assorted gubbins, checked battery connections etc, nothing wrong there.
Put key in and switched on, no sound, no fuel pump, no exup, silence. Everything else fine, lights, horn, warning lights etc.
Put bike back together, rang wife to come and get me, while waiting put key in, bike fired up straight away.
Got home parked, changed put key in, dead!
9 o'clock last night wondered into garage key in, push button, fired up.
Battery fully charged, showing 13 volts, it is permanently connected to an optimate.  Is it possible that it could still be the battery, it's getting on a bit . Tried again this morning, still dead.
Any help much appreciated folks.
Neil.

[DekF]

Hi
It's useful for those willing to help you that you give all the relevant history.
You posted the following last year:


http://foc-u.co.uk/index.php/topic,16015.msg183955.html?PHPSESSID=6372dc5f9372b99bb1e60d5bded310b4#msg183955


For the cost of a new battery it's not worth all the hassle that a faulty one can cause.
Having said that it sounds like the ignition switch and/or immobiliser could be at fault as well. Maybe the low voltage is affecting the immobiliser.

[PieEater]

The Search option is also useful;

http://foc-u.co.uk/index.php/topic,17817.msg205965.html

http://foc-u.co.uk/index.php/topic,16004.msg184579.html

http://foc-u.co.uk/index.php/topic,10840.msg118088.htm

[robbo]

I'd check out the kill/starter switch. My old Speed Triple has given me grief with exactly the same symptoms especially when it's been in heavy rain, despite having changed the switch many years ago. I bet it would bump start ok when the fault occurs.Either the kill switch doesn't make contact when in the run position or the starter button contacts are failing to make contact, i reckon.

[PieEater]

I'd check out the kill/starter switch.

There are one or two known weak points on the Gen1 which are in the threads I linked, it would be best to eliminate these first. I had a similar problem and ended up going through all of the connectors I could see, pulling them apart, inspecting them, cleaning them and putting them back together. I haven't had the issue since so it was obviously a loose connection but I have no idea which one.

[slappy]

Worn out ignition switch.
When I had my gen1 exactly same happened to me, only discovered it was ignition switch when wife was playing with key and mentioned it was very wobbly , while I sourced another ignition switch I bent the key slightly and used it like that for a few weeks with no problems.

[PaulSmith]

The connection block where the ignition wires plug into the main harness can show signs of rot.

[lincs1963]

Hey chaps, thanks for all the quick replies. I have ordered a new battery just to be sure, I also removed the seat and side panels, unplugged, cleaned and wd40'd every connection I could find.
Bike now starts and runs, but I am going to check all the bits mentioned rather than just leave it and think all is now ok.