McBusiness11

I assume my problem was just dirty terminals, as silly as that is. I pulled the battery tray out, checked all the fuses, I found one place where the positive wire was touching the frame, and friction had rubbed the electrical tape off in one small spot, but it had definitely not broken the insulation on the wire. I put everything back together, cleaned my terminals real good to start testing more in-depth, and it fired right up. So I have to assume the terminals were dirty, as that's the only real thing i did. I really dont think the positive lead going to the starter relay was grounding, so my money is on dirty terminals. Wow. I didnt ride my bike for 3 months because of that. Thanks again for all the help!

That sounds like exactly where the pop comes from. I will finally have time to do get into it this weekend. I will definitely post my findings and hopefully it will help someone else one day, although I'm sure this problem has been addressed before. Thanks again

Thank you all. I will try the procedures you recommended tomorrow. I had a busy couple of days with an old van that has been sitting for 6 years. I'm usually pretty good with electrical issues on cars and trucks, but this is my first motorcycle I've ever owned and I absolutely love it. I want to get her back on the road! I will post my findings as soon as I get the tests done. Thanks again!

This is my first post, I have used the site to gain some technical knowledge in the past, but this is my first post. I am stumped and would greatly appreciate any help! I have a 2004 midnight venture. I turned my bike on the other day, I had lights and radio, but when I hit the start button, I heard a pop and lost all power. The last time this happened, I replaced the battery and all was well. This time I replaced the battery, and got the same pop, and lost all power with the new battery. I still had 12.73 volts at the battery with it connected. Voltage does not drop when I turn the key, and i now know my old battery was fine because it is in another bike now. All fuses are fine, and i can actually unhook the battery, let it sit overnight, hook it back up and get power back until I hit the starter button again. The pop sounds electrical and seems to come from around the battery. I'm thinking I must have a bad ground, bad start button, something. I came to see if anyone has experienced this before and can point me in the right direction. Thank you in advance!