GIT

I keep a trickle charger on it now so I know the battery is charge full. I was checking the battery with the test light to see if maybe the ground was bad but I pulled the ground from the battery to the engine block and cleaned it real good but still the same. Some times when I just turn the key on the lights dont work and then they will pop on, or if I hit the start button while the lights are out they will come on real dim with the start button depressed and go out when I let off it and then couple seconds later they will come on again nice and bright so I hit the starter button and click at the relay. Its weird that it acts like a bad ground. I have a volt meter but the darn plug on the relay is stuck and doesnt want to come apart lol I will get it I hate it but I love it .

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"Nothing happens until something moves."
1997 Honda Rebel CMX250.

GearJammer

In regards to the front wheel wobble, the others have covered a lot of good bases with various possibilities.......Expanding just a bit on one of those possibles is the seating of the tire bead. As a couple of folks have mentioned, if you look at the tire/rim area, you'll see a factory line on the tire just by the rim. That line wants to be an equal distance from the rim all the way around the rim and please check it on both sides of the tire/rim. If it's not pretty close to equal around the whole circumference, it puts the tire out of balance.........

On the clicking issue, you may find more info here:

Bike not startin :'(

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"Ridin' Ain't A Hobby, It's A Lifestyle"

1986 450 Rebel

GIT

Thanks for all the info from every one. Its pretty confusing to me to say the least. The two main post on the relay one runs to the battery and the other to the starter. The terminal to the battery is hot, you hit the start button and it completes the connection to the starter through the relay right?
I checked my brothers bike has the same relay and his works yet when the starter is turning over Im still getting no juice to the starter terminal on the relay but the starter is turning over how does that work, it must be getting power through that wire to turn the starter over at least enough to light a test light up I would think.
Im just going to get the relay and cross my fingers I think.

__________________
"Nothing happens until something moves."
1997 Honda Rebel CMX250.

GearJammer

My electrical knowledge is basic at best, but I believe you're correct in that the Starter Button completes the circuit for the juice to pass from battery thru starter relay to starter.

On this part, please forgive, but I'm not quite sure if I'm following it correctly:

"I checked my brothers bike has the same relay and his works yet when the starter is turning over Im still getting no juice to the starter terminal on the relay but the starter is turning over how does that work, it must be getting power through that wire to turn the starter over at least enough to light a test light up I would think."

In the above quote, are you referring to your BROTHER'S bike and not your's ? If you're referring to his bike, I agree with you and would think that there should be a reading from his wire between relay and starter while the starter is turning over but again, I'm not sure how that works exactly.

If you're still only getting a clicking sound on your's, you might try this.......Usually, the clicking is either from a weak battery, bad starter relay or dirty connections in the Starter Button switch.........You can by-pass the Starter Button and Battery by jumping the terminals on the Starter Relay with the bike's key in the "On" position. If, by jumping the Starter Relay terminals, the starter turns over and the bike fires up, then you're looking at either battery or starter button issues (or bad starter relay, which may only work if you jump it)....You indicate that the battery is good. This "might" narrow it down to dirty connections in the Starter Button switch control housing on the handlebars....and this is provided that jumping the Starter Relay terminals allows fire-up. If so, please check out the link in a previous post that explains how to clean the connections inside that housing. When you push the Starter Button, you're actually pushing a slide that has various connections on it for start, lights, etc.

When I had first gotten the 250 Reb (now sold), it would click only, but I had 2 problems going on.......battery needed replacement and the switch housing contacts were dirty. Jumped the Starter Relay with the key "On" and the bike fired right up! Bought a new battery, cleaned those contacts and was good to go.......but it IS possible that your Starter Relay is bad. Just a matter of working back from Starter Button to Starter as you follow that whole circuit.....

__________________
"Ridin' Ain't A Hobby, It's A Lifestyle"

1986 450 Rebel

GearJammer

Copy 'n paste from the above mentioned link to save you time:

"If you're not comfortable with trying this, you don't have to.....but with the bike in neutral, gas on, key on, kill switch off.....if you jump the starter relay terminals by touching them both at the same time with a screw driver with an insulated handle and being VERY careful not to touch any other metal, the bike should fire-up. Like I said, you don't have to try this if you're not comfortable with it, it's really just a trouble-shooting technique.

Your's being an '86, it's quite possible that the contacts inside the right-hand side controls on the handlebars have a build-up of dust, grime, etc. This would include the contacts for your starter button inside there. You can buy a spray can of Electrical Contact Cleaner at Radio Shack. There's 2 different types, one has a lubricant, one does not. You want the one WITHOUT the lubricant, which will clean and then will air dry without leaving any residue. Open the right-hand controls, carefully separate them and you'll see the contacts and the slide that the starter button engages and that slide has a number of different contacts on it. Spray some Electrical Contact Cleaner in there being very careful to not get any on any paint, etc. Push the slide in a few times, spray a little bit more, then let it air dry, wiping off any excess. Put the control housing back on and give her a try.......This may or may not do the trick, but I'd give it a shot. If the contacts are dirty, then the starter button may not trigger the starter relay for fire-up every time......."

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"Ridin' Ain't A Hobby, It's A Lifestyle"

1986 450 Rebel

Guba

Sounds like your measuring at the wrong places. Keep in mind that a voltmeter will read a DIFFERENCE in voltage potential. As an example, if you take a 12 volt battery and put one probe on the positive and the other on the negative, you'll get a reading somewhere around 12 volts. But if you put one end of the probe on positive and the other end on positive, it'll show a voltage of zero. BUT, we know it has 12 volts becouse we just checked. Keep that in mind when making checks. The meter needs to see a voltage difference to get a reading.

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Some days beer tastes good...other days beer tastes better!

'07 Rebel 250 26,000 miles