2013 Explorer 1200 Not Starting

[Qship]

Any reputable garage or parts store can load test your battery. That will tell you right away if the battery is the issue. I have seen new batteries defective with dead cells, so that may be the issue.
You can boost it off your truck. I would not have your vehicle running as the load you draw from that big battery will not affect it, and I am sure you have more than enough CCA in it it to start your bike.

 

[dwsdad]

Any reputable garage or parts store can load test your battery. That will tell you right away if the battery is the issue. I have seen new batteries defective with dead cells, so that may be the issue.
You can boost it off your truck. I would not have your vehicle running as the load you draw from that big battery will not affect it, and I am sure you have more than enough CCA in it it to start your bike.

Thanks. I think I'll pull the battery and have it load tested.

 

[atomsplitter]

One note, if you have a 'bad' cell, jumping may not work as the truck battery voltage is going into the battery and not the start system. Happened to me years back on a ride back from New Mexico at a gas station after fillup. The industrial battery charger they had in "jump" couldn't start the bike, but put in a new battery and it fired right up. That battery had more than one dead cell though.

 

[sikatri]

Do you have a charger for the motorcycle battery? That would be the way I would go.

 

[dwsdad]

Do you have a charger for the motorcycle battery? That would be the way I would go.

Just a regular charger.

 

[dwsdad]

Thanks. I think I'll pull the battery and have it load tested.

O'Reilly tested the battery as good with 13.25v.

 

[dwsdad]

Next up....I'll pull the battery from my zero turn and find a way to hook it up to the bike without the bike battery installed.

 

[goody]

Thanks guys. I think I'm closing in on it. I plugged in an OBD dongle and fired up TuneECU. The fan, pump, and tach tests all worked....and surprisingly, so did the headlight test. So, now I know the headlight relay is good and the headlights are good. Here's what I found interesting: in the lower right corner of TuneECU, it shows the voltage. Mine was showing 12.2v, it during all the testing and pressing the start button, I saw that voltage drop to 11.8v. So now I'm thinking possibly a bad cell in the battery. Rather than jump off buy new battery, can I try to Jumpstart it off my truck battery?

Cool. Ive known new batteries to fail . The floating voltage looks good but under load drop to a unusable voltage . Explorers wont even try to crank if the voltage is to low . If tje pump doesn't prime the the bike will not crank .

 

[atomsplitter]

O'Reilly tested the battery as good with 13.25v.

With that voltage and assuming they did the full load test and the battery survived the battery isn't your problem. Where the negative lead attaches to the frame should be checked next to make sure it's capable of sufficient electron flow. The circuit to start (without a schematic it's hard to tell EXACTLY) on most bikes provides a + cable to the starter and the starter case goes to ground and the ground strap back to the battery to complete the circuit. If the ground strap connection is iffy, it can pass enough current to light the small stuff but not carry the current load on an electric motor. Find where the black cable from the battery is bolted to your frame, rempve it from the frame, clean the surface, the strap end and reattach. If it still just does a 'clicking' then your problem isn't the power to the starter.

 

[dwsdad]

With that voltage and assuming they did the full load test and the battery survived the battery isn't your problem. Where the negative lead attaches to the frame should be checked next to make sure it's capable of sufficient electron flow. The circuit to start (without a schematic it's hard to tell EXACTLY) on most bikes provides a + cable to the starter and the starter case goes to ground and the ground strap back to the battery to complete the circuit. If the ground strap connection is iffy, it can pass enough current to light the small stuff but not carry the current load on an electric motor. Find where the black cable from the battery is bolted to your frame, rempve it from the frame, clean the surface, the strap end and reattach. If it still just does a 'clicking' then your problem isn't the power to the starter.

it'll take a while to that. I'll to pull the tank when get a chance and trace all those cables. Lots of honey-dos in the way, so I'll attack that when I can.

A battery swap with the mower will b quick and easy, so that's first. If it starts, then I know it's the battery. If not.....teardown time!

 

[dwsdad]

Let me just thanks for all the input. It really helps to bounce ideas off other folks. Your help has been greatly appreciated.

 

[atomsplitter]

If it is the starter motor that is the issue, here's an interesting little video on Triumph starter motors:

View: https://youtu.be/0gK32f55viQ