Chassis ground come loose?????

[JoeUpchurch]

I am really perplexed with my 2012 Spyder RT Ltd. I had to have it towed to my dealer and now he tells me that the reason it wouldn't start is because the chassis ground was undone. In other words I spent two days going over every possibility of why it wouldn't start (just clicks) - also the mechanic states that we should have caught it at the 4600 check a couple months ago. Can anyone duplicate this behavior? I'd like to know how to verify this when I get it back. Anyone got any suggestions? Won't start because of a loose screw or bolt? And the main chassis ground is at the negative pole, I don't understand that because I was constantly checking that ground pole under the seat then I hooked up my Power Probe III and I know it was tight. Since everything else worked, how can I (in the future) check for this? Unless I can verify this I find it hard to believe.

[M109Dreamer]

Sounds like you checked the jump posts under the seat. And based on you discription the dealer was saying the main chasis ground which would actually be from the battery to the fram somewhere. I havent checked that in our 11 RTS but the battery is on the left rear side. You would have to get to the neg cable on the battery and follow it to were it is mounted on the frame.

[spyryder]

There should also be a ground wire somewhere from the engine block to the frame.

[Chupaca]

when we said check the ground wires we should have said there are several. But they are not all easy to get at but can very easily be the cause of your only getting a click. Glad they fixed it but agree they should have caught it as well..

[cptjam]

To tighten the main ground, bend a box/open end wrench into a "U". The nut is on the back side, and hard to get to. Even slightly loose can ruin the connection. Bolts get loose. It happens. Check and tighten!

[JoeUpchurch]

To tighten the main ground, bend a box/open end wrench into a "U". The nut is on the back side, and hard to get to. Even slightly loose can ruin the connection. Bolts get loose. It happens. Check and tighten!

If the main ground (under the seat) were loose causing the starter not to work, would that not also cause some of the other items not to work ie the console, the acc plugs, etc. Everything else was working.

Could it be that the starter itself was not grounded to the chassis?

[JoeUpchurch]

If the main ground (under the seat) were loose causing the starter not to work, would that not also cause some of the other items not to work ie the console, the acc plugs, etc. Everything else was working.

Could it be that the starter itself was not grounded to the chassis?

Dealer's tech says ground wire to oil tank was loose, tightened it - started right up - happy to be riding again!

[Bob Denman]

There you go...