Just as we're planning our first weekend father/son ride, my son's SV ('05) seems to have developed some kind of electrical issue. I figure some of you guys would know what's going on. It's rather weird and I'm guessing it's some kind of short somewhere. So, put the key in and turn the power on. Sometimes everything is just great, it all comes up, the fuel pump primes and it seems to have plenty of power to the electronics. Hit the starter button and CLICK (you can hear an audible click), dead. No power to anything. Another time it fired right up (didn't spin slowly like the battery was drained, fired right up) , but you could tell it was acting like it wasn't getting enough juice, with the lights dimming with every "thump", then it died. After this happens you'll turn the key off, then on and just get a quick flash of the neutral light, but the whole dash is dead. The battery seems to have plenty of power. It's only a year old and I put the charger on it and the light changes to "charged" within a minute or two. I'm thinking stator, it's the only thing I've ever had an issue with that seems to cause such weird issues. I don't have a multi-meter to test anything specific, but figured the symptoms would be a give-away of something obvious since the SV is so popular around here. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I have a first gen SV that acts the same way and just keeps eating starter relays. Everything works and when you hit the start button the lights just dim and nothing happens. Throw a new $70 Suzuki relay in it and it’s good for 6 months. The $10 aftermarket relays are junk and don’t last a month. I haven’t had the time or desire to break out the multimeter and see what’s really going on.
If I remember correctly the positive battery wire goes directly to the starter relay and then to the rest of the bike. Looking at a wiring diagram just confirmed this, it’s been a while since i have replaced the relay. http://cycles.evanfell.com/2013/01/suzuki-sv650-wiring-diagram/
This winter I had an SV that had similar behavior. Turned out the starter relay and starter were bad. I traced it to the relay, put in a a spare, and still nothing (after confiming power to the starter this time). Swapped the starter with a spare I had and all issues were resolved. *i think* the previous owner smoked the relay trying to jump start a tied up starter.
BUT, would any issues with the starter or relay cause the bike to barely be able to run ONCE started? It's an SV, we can always bump start it easily. Just odd that it would seem to barely have power once it's actually running. Plus just the odd behavior of how it sometimes does one thing, and sometimes another. Like how sometimes you turn the key and nothing, shake it around and then the instrument panel all comes to life and the fuel pump primes. Then you hit the starter button, a loud "click" and the whole instrument panel goes completely dead. No power at all. Everything I've looked up with the starter issues doesn't affect the whole instrument cluster. You just push the starter button and nothing happens.
Turns out it was the positive battery terminal. While it "appeared" to be just fine, that little annoying nut on the bottom side had come undone. Amazing how the little things can often wreak such havoc!
Always make a habit of doing any inspections to use both eyes AND fingers...both can lie to you by themselves, but together rarely fail you. Glad you got it sorted and it was super simple to fix!!
