Won't start, rapid clicking, spark on battery ground

[brentm]

A friend just bought a used 400 EX. Today it started fine, but forgot to turn on the gas so it died. Would not restart.

I charged the battery, headlight and neutral light work fine. There is a rapid clicking sound coming from near to the battery. There is also a spark where the negative battery cable is connected to the frame.

What do you think?

dud battery. Try a new one and it'll fire right up.

[blaaze416]

Mine did the same thing a few months back. Check to see that there are no breaks or wear marks in your neg. cable's sheathing, causing a bad ground (like mine). Also, just take the whole neg. cable off and sand down whereever the cable connects....terminals, cable connectors on both sides, and where the connector bolts to the frame. Sometimes mud and grit get in between the metal connections and also cause a bad ground. A bad ground will do both....the ticking and the sparking. Hope this helps! :D

[burnthesnikle]

try tightening the ground cable or...
battery is junk

[TURBO-530R]

Tighten all connections on cables recharge battery or replace if tighten cables don’t work. You might have to replace or re crimp cable Jim

[Z15]

Bad Battery, little or no use is bad for batteries. If you ride infrequently get a trickle charger (1amp) and keep it hooked up. But one that is automatic that will not over charge, a popular brand it called "Battery Tender".

Just had same problem with my 2006 Rincon. Due to the severe winters we get, my ATV will sit for up to 6 months in storage. These newer machines have more electronics that use power when shut down.

So I put a tester on it and found after charging it only had about 9volts which is bad, should be 12.9V.

The tip that your battery is bad is the headlights, turn them on and hit the starter, if the lights go very dim or out, low voltage in the battery.

Go Wal*Mart buy new battery. I tried to buy one from local Honda dealer but he never had one to fit the Rincon. Another customer in the shop mentioned WM had them and that set off the parts guys. They claimed they were junk that came from overseas and they replaced many of them. Well it turned out they were liars because it was made by Yusa, the very same brand that comes in the Honda.

Btw - ATV's batteries are not cheap, anything for toys has a higher price.

[bartlettracing]

if there is a spark off the frame ground thats the problem .... remove the wire and clean that area .. reattach the cable .

[1965 honda]

all of the above will do, haha:cool:

[TURBO-530R]

get it started yet?

[brentm]

Cable looks good, cleaned connections, battery shows 12 volts, still just clicks, but won't even click if headlight is on. From all the responses above, it sounds like the battery. Thanks for the help!

[TURBO-530R]

when you tri to start it pull on the ground wire that was sparking

A battery can read 12v and still have no current. Try a jump from a car and see if it starts, if it does then you know you need a battery.