A home time adventure.

[Anonymous]

Thanks again.
I don't quite understand the bit about the Starter Side/Battery Side of the solenoid. On top of the solenoid at the front right is the terminal to which the black cable connects. At back left is the terminal for the red cable. Front middle is where the green/yellow wire is soldered on. To test it I connected a wire to the positive terminal of the battery and, with the ignition on, touched the bare end on the point where the green/yellow wire connects. Was that correct?
I've ordered a new solenoid anyway which I hope to have by tomorrow. Can't easily run the other tests you suggested because I've removed the solenoid in preparation. As I said, I had a good look at all the connectors and wires and they all seem OK. I was really surprised at how clean and secure the connections in the starter button are. From what you and other people have said, it looks like it can't be much other than the solenoid that's wrong.
I'll let you know what happens.

Roger

[Anonymous]

a home time adventure

Sounds OK. The red cable is directly from the battery. The black cable goes to the starter motor. You could have activated the solenoid by simply by touching the green/white wire on the solenoid directly to the red cable. What you did is fine. It just requires an extra piece of wire.

Like I said in the previous post: The bad starter could have been caused by a low battery. The battery may be low because it is old and degenerated (like me) or because the charging system is faulty and not keeping the battery topped up. So, while you are waiting for the new solenoid to arrive check the status of your battery. First ensure that the fluid level in the battery is between the indicator marks for each cell. If not top up with distilled water (not tap water). If you see a white mineral type build up in any of the cells the battery is probably no good. If you have (or can borrow) a battery charger, charge the battery fully. Use the 12 volt, low amp (2 amp) setting on the charger for about 24 hrs. Remove the battery from the charger. Now get out your trusty multimeter, set it to DC volts mode and to the next range greater than 12 volts. Put the black lead of the multimeter on the NEG terminal of the battery and the red lead on the POS terminal. The reading should be about 12.5 Volts. If the reading is around 10 volts or lower, one or more cells of the battery is bad. This condition kills starters (see other post: "bad battery fry starter"). If the battery seems OK, the problem could very well be with the charging system. This is a weak point with these Suzukis. You can check it out by using your multimeter in a series of tests. These test are covered quite well in "the stator papers" near the bottom of the "in the garage" page of this website. You will need a running bike however to do the tests.

Good luck!

Junkman

[Anonymous]

I have to admit that I haven't checked the battery for a long while. It's almost exactly a year old. Until the other night, I hadn't had any charging problems - at least not since I had a new alternator fitted - again almost exactly a year ago. Mind you, I tend to charge up the battery once a week in the cold weather so I might not notice a problem as soon as I otherwise might. The battery took a full 12 hours to charge the other night - it hasn't been that flat since I first bought it and charged it up for the first time.

Roger

[Anonymous]

I control the Beast - for now

It was the solenoid.

Roger

[Anonymous]

Roger,

The world is getting smaller.
You have Motorbike Toronto listed on your Website. I live 5 minutes from that shop.

Roman.

[Anonymous]

You lucky guy. I seem to be ordering a steady stream of stuff from Motorbike Toronto at the moment. As the cost of flying the stuff over here would be too much, each order comes by ship and takes about a month to arrive (even though they get the part shipped almost next day). This has caused me to discover a new law which states that as soon as you've placed an order (but not soon enough to amend your order and save on shipping costs) something else breaks.
I currently have a pair of rear shocks, a choke cable, clutch perch and something else on order - each travelling by a different ship.
My wife wonders why I don't just order another bike from them and be done with it - or move out to Toronto. Unfortunately, I think she may be being sarcastic!

[Anonymous]

Is it that difficult for you to find parts for that beast of yours? I truly believed that the endless supply of parts for these old bikes would be in your neck of the woods. I guess I’m wrong.

Roman.