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Hit duh button....nuttin'....Relay perhaps?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Good Times
  • Start date Start date
G

Good Times

Guest
I've been working on my rebuild. Put the carbs back on, put the battery in, all wiring is hooked up. Turned the key and almost everything works. Signals, gauge lights, tail light, brake light, horn, head light high and low.

Hit the starter. Nuttin.

Thus far I have done the following:

1) Briefly bridged the two poles on the relay with a screwdriver. The starter engaged and very weakly turned. So the starter is good, but I need a new battery. This one was just off the charger. It was on its last leg after riding for a year with a bad stator. :o

2) Took the starter switch apart to be sure I put it together correctly. Check. Everything is good there.

3) I'm 99.9% sure my wiring is right. I went over everything before I put it back together. The clutch switch was removed by a PO and the wires are connected in the head light bucket, so I know it isn't that. So the circuit should be good.

4) So in my mind this leaves the relay, right? Once I get a new battery in, how do I test the relay? Can I run a patch straight from the unplugged yellow/green switch wire to the positive battery pole and see if it engages? Would that work?

Am I missing anything?
 
Good Times said:
4) So in my mind this leaves the relay, right? Once I get a new battery in, how do I test the relay? Can I run a patch straight from the unplugged yellow/green switch wire to the positive battery pole and see if it engages? Would that work?
Click to expand...
The easiest way to verify the relay is with a test light, but a volt meter will do the same job.

- Ground the light (or the meter) on the battery negative terminal.
- Touch the tip of the light to the solder pad where the yellow/green wire attaches to the solenoid (relay).
- Press the starter button the light should come on.
- If it comes on, but you don't hear the solenoid click, move your probe to the outer case of the solenoid and push the starter button again.
- If it comes on this time, you have a bad ground from the solenoid to the chassis or battery.

Or you can use a jumper wire, like you suggested. If you don't get a response, try another jumper wire from the solenoid case to ground and try it again.

If none of those get it to work, you need a new solenoid. Save some money, go to your favorite "big box" store, get one for a lawn tractor. You might be amazed at how similar they are. If you have a choice between a single or dual terminals, go with the single, that will use the case for a ground, just like your original solenoid.

.
 
Ok, great. Thanks Steve.

This brings up another question. "bad ground from the solenoid to the chassis or battery"

How should my relay be wired?

Currently:

Lead wire from Batt Pos + to Relay Pole
Lead wire from Relay Pole to Starter
Switch wire to button

There is no ground to the battery or chasis per say.

I'll do the suggested test with a test light and see what I come up with.
 
The solenoid is bolted (screwed) to the plate on the side of the battery box. Probably from one of those bolts will be a wire that grounds the entire mounting plate. If not from the solenoid mount, it might be connected to one of the fusebox mounts. If you have nothing at all that is grounding that plate, you need to put a ground wire in there.

While you are poking around in that area, take a good look to see where your R/R is grounded. Quite often, they run a wire up to that same plate, then rely on its ground wire to ground the R/R to the battery. You need to make sure the R/R has a GOOD connection to the battery. You can make it one long, direct wire to the battery, or at least add a wire from where the R/R is connected and run it to the battery.

.
 
Well then that is probably the issue. My R/R was grounded to the plate originally, but I moved it to the battery. There is nothing grounding the mounting plate.

That's an easy fix.

I'll give it a shot later today.

Once again, thanks Steve.
 
Good Times said:
Well then that is probably the issue. My R/R was grounded to the plate originally, but I moved it to the battery. There is nothing grounding the mounting plate.
Click to expand...
OK, if your R/R was 'grounded' to the plate, there still HAS to be something grounding the plate to the chassis or the battery. Otherwise, there would be no place for the current from the R/R to go. You also need a ground for the solenoid (which seems to be what started this thread), so, somewhere along the line, there used to be a ground wire to that plate.

If you had the plate powder-coated, you need to have a serious chat with the guy that removed it to see what he did with the wire. :D

.
 
Similar solenoid/starter question

Similar solenoid/starter question

Question, not solution: My solenoid clicks okay. Starter does not turn. Connections look good and clean. Bike ran perfectly last week. I took the big leads off the solenoid and clamped them together, bypassed the solenoid(?), to no avail. Is the starter next?? 1982 GS650G.

I am new on the site and have not figured out how to ask this question elsewhere, sorry....

Thank you,
zanichbug
 
zanichbug, next time I suggest you start your own thread, since your issue is not the same and this one has already been resolved. However, since you are new and your post is already here:
Are you aware that what you did is run a permanent 12V to your starter?
What is your battery voltage when you did that?
If it stays at 12V plus, you have an open circuit in your starter and it needs rebuilding or replacing. If it drops to 6V or less you have a bad battery.
 
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