Suzuki sv650s will not start, no lights, no fuel pump, nothing

Question

My sv650s will not start at all. I put the key in the ignition and turn it on and none of my accessory lights come on and the fuel pump doesn't engage. It's done this before and I fixed it originally by jump starting it with my boss' ram truck. As soon as I hooked the cables to the battery it fired right up. This time I was not so lucky. I know you're not supposed to jump a bike with a car but it was all I had available, and it didn't blow any fuses so I figured no harm done. A couple weeks later it died and I haven't been able to bring it back since. I put a new battery in it, charged it all the way, and I still get nothing so I'm starting to think it's something else. None of my fuses are blown and the battery is brand new. What might be causing this, a bad regulator rectifier? Bad stator? Bad ignition switch?

Answer 1

A few possible causes include:

1) A bad ignition switch. Maybe turning the key isn't actually activating the switch, so the bike is still effectively switched off.

2) A bad connection somewhere on the positive side. I would check between the battery and the first few relays and fuse boxes. A wiring diagram will help you trace the flow. Keep an eye out for corrosion.

3) A bad ground. There is usually a large negative wire that goes directly from the battery to the frame, or the engine. If that's loose or corroded, electrons won't flow.

Hard to diagnose any more than this without more information. I wouldn't worry too much about the starting circuit until you get power back to basics like lights. If you don't already have one, pick up a cheap multimeter. Grab a wiring diagram for your bike and see where it has power. You should be able to trace 12v from the battery all the way to any given light with the switch turned on. If you can't, see where the voltage is present and where it isn't. Your problem is somewhere between.

Answer 2

If you get no lights even with a new battery that is also jumpered to a another battery, then you know it is an electrical connection: bad ignition switch, ground, fuse, relay, or battery connection.

Time to get the multimeter out and use it to deduce where your electrical circuit is open (broken).

Answer 3

Sounds like it's possible you might have a current draw somewhere along the line. Something drawing power when it really shouldn't be. I would test for that by hooking up an ammeter in series and looking for any current.

One other thing I can think of that may cause this is if the battery wires have any corrosion on them it may be enough to break contact.

Last thing I would guess at is you have a bad ignition switch/relay. Even if the relay does click that doesn't mean it's making a solid connection in there.

Your nose is your best friend here if anything is burnt out. Sniff around the starter motor too, you'll know if it's crispy.

Answer 4

It is likely that the battery in your SV650S was either weak or dead. This led to your no start condition. Jump starting it with a pickup truck almost certainly provided enough current to get the motorcycle running. I'll point out here you can almost always push start an SV650 in 2nd or 3rd gear if you have even a slight down hill to build up some speed.

Due to the design of the regulator and rectifier unit on the SV650S, this action almost certainly destroyed it completely. Essentially the regulator was trying to regulate the output of the pickup trucks electrical system, which is impossible. It's likely that now the regulator portion is malfunctioning and just acts as a big resistor. This means that it draws the voltage down to the point that your bike no longer functions. Even with a freshly charged battery.

Perform the following steps

1. Disconnect the battery and verify it can be charged fully.
2. Connect the battery and measure the voltage.
3. Turn the key on and measure the voltage.
4. Disconnect the battery again and charge it fully.
5. Disconnect the regulator & rectifier unit from both the stator windings and the electrical harness. There should be two plugs on it, disconnect them both
6. Turn the key on and measure the voltage.

The voltage measured at steps 2,3,& 6 should all be very close together. Approximately 11.8 volts or higher in all cases. My guess is the voltage at step 3 will be extremely low. If it is, you are probably going to have to replace the regulator and rectifier unit with a new one. If the voltage at steps 3 & 6 is identical, then the problem is not limited to the regulator & rectifier unit.

Answer 5

I keep having this same issue. For my bike it keeps being the main negative connection from the wiring harness to the negative terminal on the battery. I get electrical connection as soon as the key is turned, but the second I hit the start button, about every tenth time, the bike goes instantly electrically dead and stays that way. Lifting the tank and pushing the connector together more firmly corrects the problem. Soon I will be relocating that connection and either adding two new connectors to both halves of the connection or splicing them together and heat shrinking the wire. 2008 S Model if you need to know specifically.