Bike dead after jump start

Hi guys

I am having problems with my 1985 maxim xj 700

Last night i had a bit of trouble starting my bike at the grocery store. I was able to get a jump from a nice lady and the bike fired back up! Then I let it run a bit and eventually turned it of (stupid) to unlock my helmet from the side. It didn't have enough power yet to start on its own again... so i had to jump it again. This time it cranked over once and then just died. Everything electrical stopped working. Lights went off, no neutral light, nothing worked AT ALL. So luckily the store was close to my house so I just wheeled the bike back. But now i am left wondering what went wrong and how do i fix it? Did i blow a fuse or something or is this problem more serious? did i fry the electrical system or the battery?

I did try to push start it down a small hill also. I could hear the engine turning over but it didn't come to life. Maybe i just wasn't going fast enough or maybe there is a more serious problem... I haven't tried push starting this bike before.

I am going to have a closer look at the damage tonight after work. I would greatly appreciate any tips or advice on how to proceed!

Thanks for your help.

 

CHECK your main fuse! It is possible it is blown.

 

Uh-oh! Jump starting a bike from a car is never a good idea, but if you must then make sure the car isnt running. A car produces way more amperage than your bikes electrical system was designed to handle.
Start checking the simple things first. Put a volt meter on the battery & see if it has at least 12 volts. Check the fuses to see if one or more is blown. Check to see if the battery wires are making good contact, & theres no corrosion on them.

Its a good sign that your bike started after the jump, shows that nothing immediately fried. But Im wondering if it might have slowly burned something like the regulator/rectifier unit, or worse yet, the TCI.

If the battery shows less than 12 volts, pull it out & check the fluid levels. Theres minimum & maximum lines on there & all 6 must be in range. If one or more is low, fill to correct level using DISTILLED water & put it on a low amp charger & put it back in the bike after its fully charged.
Hopefully you just have a weak or bad battery.
You can also take the battery to an auto parts store & have them load test it to see if its bad. Good luck.

 

I have to question why you were having trouble from the start...

you got it to the grocery store, so what happened to the battery after that? simply sitting in the parking lot shouldn't cause a battery problem. And if the bike was operated to the store, it should've charged the battery to there. So why did you have to jump start it?

Either way, battery description makes me want to say its time for a newly charged fresh battery.

 

The bike is a bit finicky and it needs the carbs cleaned.

This is how the night went. I left the house got on the bike. started it up (it took about 5 or 6 good cranks to finally fire up and stay on.) this is normal for the 4 months or so that i have had it. I chalk it up to dirty carbs. Then on my way out of the alley behind the house a car swings quickly in to the alley entrance. I had been holding the throttle open to keep the bike going because it wasn't warm yet. It died and wouldn't start for about 5 minutes i thought maybe i flooded it trying to start it. let it sit for 2 minutes came back and it fired right up on the first try. Then i went to the grocery store. and when i came out the battery would crank it over and was pretty strong but it wouldn't start. maybe flooded. but i tried too many times and drained the battery too much to the point that i needed a jump.

 

As before, if the bike survived the jump start from the car, charge the battery or get a new one, then add a trickle charger on it to keep it fully charged at all times.---After you get your carbs cleaned & sorted out. Sucks to have your bike down for maintenence at peak riding season, but thats how the cookie crumbles!

 

So lets say you had the carbs cleaned and the bike fires up properly every time, do you think you would've had to jump start last night??

Glad you shared more of the story. It helps the diagnosis process towards us willing to help you. And sorry to come off in a bad way towards you. I don't mean to sound bitter.. you know what the initial culprit was and took a chance riding it anyways. Bit ya in the @ss!! LOL ... no worries though. We've all experience some sort of mishap which then can be remembered and learned from, whether or not it left us stranded

As far as the electrical situation regarding bike being dead after jump start, I don't know what to say. Haven't experienced jumping the battery with a car battery so I don't know for sure. I'll be following this thread so I too can learn from your mistake

but you already know what you should do

 

The XJ doesn't use a shunt type regulator so jump starting it with the car running shouldn't damage it.

I wonder about your electrical connections at the battery, starter relay and frame. Those can cause symptoms similar to yours.

 

I would just check the fuses, and most definitely charge and test the battery. It is likely spent though and needs replaced.

 

I have jumped my bike from my car a couple times before i had my battery all 'serviced' with no issues. just be sure you dont ground out the batt on some other bare metal when trying to get to the terminals or sparks go flying, lol.

I thought I needed a new batt. too, but on a whim i took it to batteries plus and asked them if they would add distilled water and throw it on a trickle charger for a few days/until it was back to healthy. They said it would be 5 bucks. I was at school and had no access to my own batt. charger so it was worth it in my mind.

I picked it up a few days later and they gave it back and didn't even charge me the 5 bucks to do it! Now the batt is strong again and I haven't had any issues since!

worth a shot before shelling out the cash for a new one!!

 

as how to bring your bike alive again, check the fuses though.

have you upgraded to a blade style fuse box? this could be the time to do so!

 

If you are having a hard time getting it started with the starter try push starting before you completely drain the battery. I was skeptical when it happened to me, but the bike fired right up on the first attempt at push starting after 5 minutes of intermittent starter. Apparently there are circumstances where there is enough to run either the starter or the ignition, but not both at once.

My more permanent solution was to open the starter up, clean out any gunk and clean the brushes and commutators. You may have other problems, but it is simple and cheap to do, and may be enough to overcome other things making it harder to start.

 

Update!

Thanks for all the help. I finally got around to fixing it up today. I checked the fuse behind the battery and it was blown. I couldnt find any other problems... I replaced it and everything works. All lights are on. I am about to go push start it and drive around for a while to charge her up. Ill look into getting a new battery or a trickle charger if my battery proves to be sub par. I will also try to get the carbs cleaned. Thanks again for the help.