[Magnum12]

Hey everyone, new guy to the forum and to quads in general, former Rokon rider. A few months ago I picked up a 2009 Grizzly 550 EFI that runs great and have zero complaints. The one thing I do notice is when I go start it up, I turn the key on, flip the kill switch off and when I push the start button, nothing happens for a split second and then the starter will slowly start to crank. When it finally starts to crank, the quad fires right up and runs without any issues. When I bought it, I did replace the battery and keep it on a tender all the time but doesn't seem to make a difference. Every now and then when I do go to start it, it will fire right up when I hit the start button but then return back to the original problem.

Does this sound like a starter relay getting ready to go out or something more like a bad connection somewhere?

Little history, I bought this from an older gentleman who never rode it and just left it stored under his patio cover. A mouse or rat did get into it and made a nest up around the battery and chewed some of the insulation off the battery cables. He did fix it and hasn't seem to affect anything but I can't help but wonder if there's a bad connection somewhere.

Thanks for your help!

 

[waltinbatonrouge]

double check the plug on the Starter Relay, remove it burnish the contact on the relay with a wire brush, make sure the spade terminals are clean and and pinched tight...check battery voltage at solenoid..clean tighten etc etc etc...

But I guessed that the bike sat a lot, tell you why.... my hydrolocked basket case sat for 2 years between starts... first few starts after rebuild same delayed start symptoms as you describe

.started checking all things electrical..noticed intermittent no switched 12v at the starter solenoid to energize the relay...
i sprayed some wd40 on the start switch ...problem disappeared...maybe try that first ...any other?? holler.

 

[Magnum12]

Thank you for the info! I will start to look at these things tonight when I get home. You are correct, the quad was only used a handful of times during hunting season and that was about it. Heck when I got it, it only had 360 miles and 64 hours on it

 

[jvictory1974]

Also could be starter dragging but the only way to check that I know of is to eliminate everything else. A voltage drop test would eliminate a bad connection.

 

[RedRocket]

Just a FYI that I don't know of anyone who uses the kill switch, at least not on a regular basis. Most I know just turn the key off. However, I wouldn't think that should be the source of your issue.

 

[Magnum12]

Well I came home and only had a few mins so I checked the batt voltage after being off the tender for 24 hours and it still was sitting at 12.9V. So as I attempted to check the voltage on each post of the relay and when I hit the starter, the quad fired right up but I will still need to keep checking further.

That's a good point about the starter dragging, wouldn't one hear it click at all or if it's hanging up, it just won't do anything until it finally engages.

Also isn't there a safety switch built in that prevents one from starting the quad in gear? Mine will let me start it in N and H

 

[jvictory1974]

Well I came home and only had a few mins so I checked the batt voltage after being off the tender for 24 hours and it still was sitting at 12.9V. So as I attempted to check the voltage on each post of the relay and when I hit the starter, the quad fired right up but I will still need to keep checking further.

That's a good point about the starter dragging, wouldn't one hear it click at all or if it's hanging up, it just won't do anything until it finally engages.

Also isn't there a safety switch built in that prevents one from starting the quad in gear? Mine will let me start it in N and H

Yes you are correct if the starter was dragging you would hear it , but in the original post you said starter would slowly start turning then fire up so that's why I thought maybe the starter. I would use a test light to check power at starter first when button is being pushed , that way you can eliminate starter as a possible issue. If the starter works when it's "told to" then it's between the button and the starter.

 

[Magnum12]

So I came home today and looked close at the battery connection side of the relay and noticed the connector looked weathered so I took it off, cleaned it up, checked the other connectors which looked good and put it all back together. When I went to fire it up it the starter was far more responsive, no real hesitation, and seems to be better. I'm going to take it up riding this weekend so I will let everyone know how it goes.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[Magnum12]

Yes, your correct with how I described it, I just never dealt with a starter that was dragging so I wasn't sure what to listen for outside of the normal clicking when it's going out. I did clean up one of the connectors on the relay and has seemed to help a lot and will see how it does over the weekend. If it starts to act up I will break out the test light and start working back up from the starter.

 

[Magnum12]

Just wanted to let everyone know that my issue has been fixed. Rode the quad a lot over the weekend and did not have one problem with the starter or hesitation when trying to start it. Thank you all for your tips and help!