Hi folks.

Recently I got myself a 1986 XJ900F (32,000 miles).

I love the bike and it rides great.

Today I went to start it - the green ignition light dimmed, the red oil warning light came on (Ithink it does that to test the bulb), but the engine did not turn over.

Seems plenty of power from the battery (bright headlight).

I bumped it and it started straight away and now starts on the button every time.

Any ideas what may have happened?

Thanks.

Might be an earth not connected properly or your starter motor brushes might be worn, plus of course the dreaded dud battery, if you leave your bike outside the battery can fail in the cold weather, or maybe the connections on your starter button, any of these or a combination of them all.

Might be an earth not connected properly or your starter motor brushes might be worn, plus of course the dreaded dud battery, if you leave your bike outside the battery can fail in the cold weather, or maybe the connections on your starter button, any of these or a combination of them all.

As above ^^^,,,,, just incase ya wanted a second opinion like !

Ok thanks for that - I'll check all the possibilities.

I checked everything but could find no problem. I did tighten a few things and now the fault seems to have disapeared so all well and good!

Another odd thing is that today the speedo stopped working but the odometer was still clocking up miles. After a short time the speedo woke up and began working again!

Another component that could cause intermittent starting issues is the starter relay.