1977 CB750F Electrical

[mluk1]

Anything on a bike that is Electrical is beyond me so I have no idea what's going on.

I left my key in the ignition and my battery ran out of power, so when I needed to start my bike I boosted it with my car. After that I got the battery charger and charged my battery. When the battery was out I decided I would clean the battery box, as there was some corrosion. I unscrewed the plate that the Fuses were on and put it right back.

When my battery was finally charged I can't electrically start my bike, the turn signals are weak and flash at longer intervals and the ticking thing only ticks once (or they don't work at all). When I try and start the bike with the electric start the cylinder like object just Tacks and Tacks and Tacks.  Does anyone have any idea what I did or where I can start?

[fpcb750er]

Do you use a trickle charger to keep the charge or rely on the bike?  How old is the battery?  Since you mention corrosion, that isn't good.  I just don't deal with it, I get a new one, I have mostly worked on vintage cars, and I don't even mess with batteries, if I even THINK they are bad I just get another and try that.  If you're in a hurry, most good auto parts stores sell the new motorcycle gel batteries fully charged  (autozone, advanced auto) or you might just want to try a new battery (38 bucks from wallymart), charge it up and try again.

[mluk1]

The battery is only a couple months old, the only reason it had corrosion is that the run off tube wasn't positioned correctly. When I kick start it and have it running on the road, all the turn signals and everything work out fine. So does that mean it's the battery?

[fpcb750er]

Not necessarily, since it's only a couple  months old and sounds like it wasn't abused :) try to look in the manual to see what the voltage should be throughout the starting system, from front to end and check all the connections. You might have a coincidence here, not a cause effect, something may have worked loose electrically when you were in the battery box area.  So now, it won't even jump with a good battery or your car right?

[mluk1]

So I just got home and boosted the bike, it started electrically and all the signals and everything works fine. When it's not plugged up to my car it doesn't start electrically and the signals are weak. So what does that mean? The battery is no good? The battery has been completely drained twice and I've had to recharge both times, could I have killed my battery?

[vern401]

You may have a bad ground... Or connection.. Clean the battery connections and the connections to teh cylenoid. Clean the connection to the frame from the - side of the battery.

Use a multi meter and check the battery voltage with key off.

[mluk1]

So I cleaned everything and still no luck. I took the battery to a store and they check it and it was running at 11.5 on a mult meter and it was going at 3 volts when she plugged it in. But I asked for a new one and for them to Warranty it and they did.  Everything works fine now.

[vern401]

Thats good to hear. I would get a multimeter and keep an eye on it for a while too. The meters are cheep and are almost a must when working on bikes cars etc.