Starter or Relay - Need testing help

[Anonymous]

Hey everyone, been a while since I posted. I pulled the 78 GS1000 out of the garage today after it had sat for about 3 weeks. Went to start it, which is always hard after sitting that long. Starter turned fine motor chugged a few times but didn't get going.

Hit the starter again and all the lights dimmed, relay started chattering and it starter turned really, really slow. Now that's all I get. First thought of course was that the battery was dead. Ran the charger on it for 6 hours, charger showed a full charge right away but I let it run for a while anyway (it auto trickle charges at that point). I still get the same problem, checked the battery at the terminals with a multi-tester, plenty of juice (just under 13V).

So I'm pretty much down to either the starter motor or the relay, can anyone tell me a good way to determine which it is? Based on the sounds of it, does anyone have an idea as to what they think it is already? As always, any assistance would be most appreciated.

[Anonymous]

You could take the battery out of the bike and boost the starter. Put the positives on the battery and starter wire coming from the relay. Put the negative on the battery AND THEN on the frame. If it starts it is the relay or the wiring.

FWIW, I tried this on a car starter that I pulled from my car. With a motorcycle battery all I got was some chattering from the starter. With a car battery the starter worked fine.

Steve

[earlfor]

Take a screwdriver and jump the two large terminals on your starter solenoid. If the starter turns the engine over normally, then the problem is the solenoid..If the starter does not turn over, its the starter. (assuming you have 13 volts in the battery and you have checked and cleaned your battery ground wire and the main ground connection on top of the transmission and under the airbox.)

Earl

[duaneage]

clean the ground connections for he starter solenoid, run a ground wire to the frame and get a GOOD connection.

If the terminals on the wires are beat up, consider new terminals and 10 gauge wire between the battery and solenoid. After 25 years and many removals these terminals take a beating, they were not great quality to begin with.

[Anonymous]

Well I finally nailed it down last night and boy do I feel dumb. The Battery (as mentioned before) was fine, fully charged plenty of current, good to go. The relay was fine and so was the starter. All the ground connections were good, the regulator and rectifier both checked out.

So what was the problem you ask? The negative battery cable terminal. In looking at the battery, you'd have never known there was an issue (no visible corrosion. The battery and all checked out so I thought nothing of it. However, last night I was playing with the continuity tester just looking for anything when I found that there was NO continuity between the screw on the negative terminal and the chassis. I pulled off the terminal and found that the brass had corroded on both mating surfaces but it was not visible under the screw. About 2 minutes with a wire brush on the dremel tool and the terminal was shiny brass again. Connected it back up and she fired right up.

Nothing like a testimonial to starting with the basics hey?

[duaneage]

I would replace it with a new connector since it will only corrode again.
If you do take it down to the brass , cover it with solder so it does not corrode, soldering the terminal will protect it


Don't feel dumb, happens to all of us, that is why I quickly suggested checking those 20 year old connectors.

Get gold plated ones from Radio Shack, they have them for car audio.

[Anonymous]

Well, for now I've coated all the connectors I cleaned with Dielectric grease. That should hold off the corosion for a while. I actually plan to go through the whole bike and clean or replace all the electrical contacts I can find. Getting rid of that extra resistance makes such a big difference, it's only going to help prolong the life of the bike.