'13 Stelvio won't start

[HarveyMushman]

Ok, this is driving me crazy. The previous owner had a pigtail lead installed on the battery, I assume for a charger. I wasn't using it. The other day I removed it and in its place left another pigtail lead for my jacket liner power. The next day I tried to start the engine and got the usual dash power up followed by a loud click, dark dash, and no starter engagement. When I switched off the key the dash made a clicking noise, the (dark) tach did its sweep thing, and the (dark) display gave me a MGST 0004 message, which isn't found in the service manual. I put a trickle charger on the battery and ordered a new battery online.

Today I tried to start the engine--no change. Then I put my voltmeter on the battery posts and got a 13V reading. Hmm. I removed the charger pigtail, re-connected the battery cables and . . . the engine started. A few minutes later I tried to start the engine again and got the "original" click, dark dash, no-start symptoms. I waited a few seconds with the key still on, and the dash lit up again like normal and I was able to start the engine. What the hell is going on?

[canuguzzi]

Is something plugged into the pigtail? Check for reversed polarity.

Never ever assume anything when it comes to electricity.

With orig pigtail, check polarity, bet the mails end is positive. Then look at yours and follow the progression of the wires, is it positive on the female end?

Is your new pigtail straight through or is it something else? Also, anything you connect to the battery should be fused.

[Bisbonian]

Check your connections at the other end of the battery cables, and clean your battery connections as necessary.

To me this sounds like a possible poor connection.

Is the ground cable still suspect on the later models?

Edited to add:
My 1200S gets the loud clunk if the temperature drops below about 50 degrees. But this is because I have one of the Lithium Iron batteries which do not do well in cooler temps. Are you still using the stock or stock type battery or have you "upgraded" to one of the Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries?

[canuguzzi]

Did you trickle charge using the pigtail you put on? I noticed you trickle charged the battery. If the pigtails had different polarity connections and you trickle charged it using the pigtail you sent a reversed polarity charge to the battery.

Strange things will then happen.

Before you do another thing, check the polarity of the pigtail. Unless you have an automatic polarity switching trickled charger, when you swapped the pigtail out you might have caused the problem.

[Kiwi_Roy]

Ok, this is driving me crazy. The previous owner had a pigtail lead installed on the battery, I assume for a charger. I wasn't using it. The other day I removed it and in its place left another pigtail lead for my jacket liner power. The next day I tried to start the engine and got the usual dash power up followed by a loud click, dark dash, and no starter engagement. When I switched off the key the dash made a clicking noise, the (dark) tach did its sweep thing, and the (dark) display gave me a MGST 0004 message, which isn't found in the service manual. I put a trickle charger on the battery and ordered a new battery online.

Today I tried to start the engine--no change. Then I put my voltmeter on the battery posts and got a 13V reading. Hmm. I removed the charger pigtail, re-connected the battery cables and . . . the engine started. A few minutes later I tried to start the engine again and got the "original" click, dark dash, no-start symptoms. I waited a few seconds with the key still on, and the dash lit up again like normal and I was able to start the engine. What the hell is going on?

I think you have a bad battery connection, remove the leads. scrape the terminals then apply some Vaseline
Do the same with the main ground connection
It could also be a bad ignition switch loosing the Voltage, I think if you monitor one of the switched fuses you may find the Voltage drops out.

[Wayne Orwig]

I think you have a bad battery connection, remove the leads. scrape the terminals then apply some Vaseline
Do the same with the main ground connection
It could also be a bad ignition switch loosing the Voltage, I think if you monitor one of the switched fuses you may find the Voltage drops out.

:1:

I would start with what Roy said. Poor battery, or battery lead, connection.

[HarveyMushman]

:1:

I would start with what Roy said. Poor battery, or battery lead, connection.

Twas the battery connections.  I thought they were solid, but apparently not.  I needed to replace the OE Yuasa anyway . . . 

[Vasco DG]

I think you have a bad battery connection, remove the leads. scrape the terminals then apply some Vaseline
Do the same with the main ground connection
It could also be a bad ignition switch loosing the Voltage, I think if you monitor one of the switched fuses you may find the Voltage drops out.

This. It's simply a poor connection. Classic symptoms.

Pete