I have a 93 Softtail that has had a dead battery for about 3 weeks. Finally got it charged up and tried to start it. It cranked over just fine but would not start (it has always been kind of a hard start especially in the colder weather). Battery ended up going dead again before it started. Hooked it back up to the charger and got it charged up. Tried to start it again and it just turned over but would not start. Then, all of a sudden, the starter would not disengage even turning off the bike and hitting the kill switch. It finally stopped after about 20-30 seconds. I tried to charge the battery again and the battery charger gives me an error code of no battery connection and the bike is totally dead. The lights don't even come on. Not sure what happened here...please help.

 

Not enough info to determine why it would crank but not start, but it sounds like the battery has failed open circuit.

Check all your connections. If you can't find a bad connection, you're probably going to have to replace the battery.

 

First thing, since you are a first time poster, we don`t know who you are, so go introduce yourself in the new members area.

Once you have done that, come back here and tell us you are ready to troubleshoot the issue.

 

Posted to the new member area and I am ready to troubleshoot, thank you.

 

The reason we ask you to go to the new members section is so that we know you are still here...a lot of folks will post a question, we spend some time trying to answer only to realize that the poster never comes back.


When you said that the bike has always been hard to start, do you mean that the starter cranks slowly?

First thing you must determine is that you have a good battery.

Make sure it is fully charged, and I suggest you have it load tested, an auto parts store will do this for free.

While the battery is out of the bike, disconnect the electrical cables that go to the battery, starter solenoid, ground etc and clean them with a wire brush or some scotch brite, sandpaper etc.

 

Thank you for the response! The starter has always turned over quickly but for some reason it takes several tries to get the bike to start, eventually it always does though. I guess my biggest concern in this problem is that the bike would not stop turning over even with the bike off...weird. Then, the bike not taking a charge all of a sudden. I hope nothing fried. Anyway, I will take the battery out and get that tested first as per your suggestion and let you know what I found out. Again, thank you very much.

 

Check the voltage with a multimeter. If the voltage across the Pos and Neg terminals is less than 11.3 volts, the battery is dead and likely shorted. Recommend replacing it.

 

I'm guessing the OP's problem has been resolved, in one way or another. Can't imagine he waited 9 years without responding but that happens a lot.