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starter not starting

DimitriT

DimitriT

Forum Sage
Past Site Supporter
Bike would start fine until a couple of days ago. I park it in the
garage and after sitting all night in cold temps (like low 40s) I
tried to start it in the morning. Battery looked healthy (12.4v
according to the wired-in meter).

So I primed it, choked it, turned the ignition and pushed the
button. And after holding down the button for a couple seconds
it started up. In the past the starter would spin right away. This
pause was new.

I rode it to work and it sat outside today. This evening I went
to start it again and this time even holding the button down didn't
do it. There was no 'click' sound like you would get with a dead
battery. Temps were cold again in the mid 40s.

I'm on a little bit of a hill so I just bumped started it and rode.

So my thought is the solenoid is getting stuck. Is this common?
Is it temp. related? Is it ok to replace with a used one or are
there better alternatives?
 
12.4 volts is pretty poor- send this battery to Florida- and get a new one. You can put multimeter on battery to see what happens during starter button push- if it drops but no click, I'd suspect the battery first.
 
Hi,

The starter solenoids can go bad. When you short the big terminals with a screwdriver, does it crank? If you'd like to try a replacement, pick up a lawn tractor/mower solenoid from your local warehouse builder store, like Home Depot or maybe Sears. They should be about $15.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
You can see if the problem is in the solenoid or the wires that trigger it.

Put your voltmeter (a test light works even better) on the small yellow/green wire that is attached to the solenoid.
Try to start the bike. If that wire is live, but you don't hear your "click", it's the solenoid.
If the wire is not live, it will be somewhere before it.

Places to check are the starter button contacts, "kill" switch contacts and clutch switch contacts (if they are still in the circuit).

.
 
The advise posted is right on target, obviously, but let me add a couple of points.

You could disassemble the solenoid and will likely find that the main contact bar or disk and the two heavy contact buttons are burned. Cleaning with sandpaper is often a satisfactory remedy. Most of those old solenoid relays come apart by removing two small Phillips screws holding the bakelite insulating cover in place. Those covers are often very brittle when old. Other models of solenoids retain the cover by means of four tabs which are extensions from the housing. With care they can usually be bent out enough to remove the cover and then pressed back into place.

At a guess, the main contact under the bakelite cover are likely because that's the usual cause but clearly tom203 is correct about the battery being low charge or weak; Cliff is correct that replacing with a new soleniod will be the better solution at that price (just don't tell anyone that you bought the garden tractor one for $15.00 instead of the stock motorcycle one for 4 or 5 times that amount;)); and Steve has pointed you to checking it out properly first. That $15.00 bargain is no bargain if the solenoid wasn't the fault. IMO, you have other issues which are going to bite you later so follow all the advise.
 
Steve nailed it, sounds to me like a dirty starter button, try this next time, when you push the starter button and nothing happens, try moving your finger around, up and down, and side to side (the finger that is depressing the starter button, obviously) to move the button, if it springs into life, you know your button is dodgy.
 
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