Bike shuts down with no warning

Ok guys I hope this is a easy find/fix.

I wanted to ride my bike since we are above the 40 degree mark and the bike fired up fine,but then it just stopped running like I hit the kill switch.

I fully charged the battery last night just to make sure of that part of it, becaue it has been out in the cold for the past few weeks.

I also have had problems with the battery being drained latley so maybe time to start hunting the problem down, just glad it started this at home instead of on the road.

Just to restate it, the bike will fire up and run on the battery,but then it looses all electrical,like it has a dead battery,but if I live it be for few minutes the gauges come back on and the bike fires again, but only will run for about 2 minutes and shuts down (just like hitting the kill switch).

Thanks for any help/suggestions !

Could be battery failing to hold charge for whatever reason such as low fluid or simply a bad battery.

May jump to known good car battery (car engine NOT running) to determine whether issue repeats itself.

Good Fortune!

Gotta be a loose wire/bad connection. Double check your fuses as they're known for the connections going bad. Make sure your battery connections are solid, especially the oft-overlooked ground. If you still haven't found the problem, pop the headlight off and check all the connections up there.

I had recently purchased a new battery ( the best Advance auto had ) and when I charged it yesterday it wasnt even half dead yet buy the battery charging indicator,but put a full charge on it anyway.I dont have to electrical testers to test the wiring so will try the ground wire and look at fuses for now.

charge your battery then take it to a battery place to have it load tested

Fuse And Fuse Holder Designations

1. The older Kawasaki’s use a glass tubed fuse with the designation of AGX 1” long. Most good auto parts stores can get them for you. They are ¼” in diameter.

2. The more common AGC is 1 ¼” long and may not fit the smaller fuse clips. Again, ¼” in diameter.

3. To clean and polish the fuse clips, I use a cotton swab(Q- Tip) and some Brasso metal cleaner or Turtle Wax Chrome Polish. I suppose any good metal polish would work.

4. These fuses can fail internally but look good, only by removing them from the clip and electrically continuity checking with either a self powered test light, or a multimeter set on OHMS can they be determined to be in good shape.

5. A physical inspection of the metal end caps for tightness will tell you if the fuse is serviceable.

6. Most modern motorcycles are now using the automobile “Blade” style fuse with the designation of ATC or ATO.

7. The reduced sized “Mini” Blade style fuse holder uses the ATM size of fuses.

8. If the fuse and fuse holder overheat, it could soften or anneal the grip of the clip, it might require squeezing the clip to restore the tightness.

9. A list of where to purchase “Blade” style fuses and holders:

www.waytekwire.com order.waytekwire.com/productdetail2/M50/...20%20%20%208%20FUSE/

www.rallylights.com www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=765

www.delcity.net www.delcity.net/cartviewitem?item=73805&search=y

Fuses should get chucked once a year regardless, so do that first. Clean connections as said in post above.

FYI: a flaky ignition switch on mine was doing what you described.

You can load test it with a multimeter. Measure voltage drop across the battery terminals. When fully charged it shouldn't drop below 11.5 VDC under light load (with key in on position headlight and taillight on) or below 10.5 VDC under heavy load (actuation of starter) any more of a drop than that and it's a good bet that your battery is on the way out. The starter is the method I usually use on cars and bikes alike since that is when the battery is under the highest load.

Ok lets see :
1)Fuses all good
2)Ground wire was secure
3)cleaned all terminals
4)took the housing for ignition switch off
and that looked good,almost like new.

The bike was working fine when I parked it about a month ago.The bike shutting off started yesterday when I wanted to let it run for a bit.Switch on,oil light and neutral light on,choke set,took about 10 seconds to start,bike ran for about 4 minutes then just stopped, all the gauge lights went dead,played with switch,nothing happened(got ticked off)waited a few minutes then hit the switch again and lights came on,bike ran for about 2 minutes,then stopped again.Charged battery ( last time I took this battery in it registerd it needed a charge ).Put battery in this morning after full charge,bike didnt want to start,like the fuel wasnt getting in,but then finaly fired up and ran again for about 3-4 minutes,then bike stopped with all gauge lights going out,now nothing lights up when hitting the switch.Frustrating,so I will be trying to find a multimeter and trying whatever else I get from the posts here to get it cleared up.

Thanks guys !

Original ignition switch? It might be failing internally.
Checked the run/stop switch on the right handlebar for corrosion/loose wire?

Step one: Get a multimeter. They're about $6 at home depot. Cheap ones work fine.

Step 2: Change the gas (or add stabil). 10 seconds is a long time to be cranking a bike over. It sounds like you have other problems on that front.

When you say "Hit the switch" are you saying "turned the key" or are you saying "Pushed the start button"?

Pushing the start button with a dead battery would turn out all your lights (because there's not enough juice to run the starter and everything else).

So, assuming your battery is good, and the bike is running great, I'd take off the headlight and check all the connections behind it for a loose wire or plug.

I'm just having trouble thinking of something that would go bad to cause your problems. Bad battery connection wouldn't matter because your stator would back it up while running. Bad coil wire wouldn't shut off your lights. Neither would a bad kill switch. Bad ignition wire perhaps, but you'd have to check the key cylinder for that one, and just for giggles check the ignition harness plug (not sure where it is but probably behind the headlight).

Good luck!

-Cory

Cory thanks for the post.

I was asking around about the multimeter and didnt want
to drop alot of money on one if I didnt need to,so I will
be going by the Home Depot soon.

As for the gas and stablizer: The bike fires fine
if the weather is warm(50+).The bike sat in (17)degree
days for about a month and it was about (35) when I
was trying to start it the other day.

"Hit the switch" I was turning the key to the ON position
which gives you the Neutral light and Oil light ON before
you thumb the start button.Lights on,bike fires and choke
on because its so cold and runs a few mintues then DEAD,lights out,engine off.

As for the headlight and ignition switch,I pulled all that
off and checked what I could see, and all looked fine,connections,wires,etc.....

I have had this bike since Aug 2010,has fired every time
till about 2 months or so ago when I had to kick start
it because the battery that came with the bike went bad,
bought a new battery and had that one get to where I had to kick start again and had to recharge that battery once
and didnt have any troubles again till this past weekend.

So I assume I have a problem somewhere,but as I am no mechanic ( but going to try and do what I can) this is where I am at right now. The only person I can take it too
is going to hit my wallet and I cant do that right now.

Sorry for the long winded post and havent had time to
do anything else on the bike because of work at the moment,but will post what I find whenever I figure it out.