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No starter

kerrfunk

kerrfunk

Forum Sage
Past Site Supporter
Hi, it's me. I have met Jack but I can't say I know Jack.

I don't know if what I did caused the problem or not, but in the interest of full disclosure...

Pulling into a parking spot, turned a little too tight a little too slow, and gently leaned the bike too far to the right. Engine guards did their job. I got the bike upright and parked -- I was already at my destination.

When I returned to my bike, I discovered I'd left the kill switch "on". No big deal, but again, full disclosure.

Gear up, neutral, clutch in, hit the start switch, and nothing. Lights are on but nobody's home.

I was on a hill, so I rolled down the hill and bump started it, no problem. Got home, 5 mile ride, parked without falling down, hit the kill switch. Out of curiosity, I turned the switch back on and hit the starter button. Nothing.

I imagine there's a perfectly reasonable explanation, but I don't know what it is or what to do, or how to search for the answer. I have one of those hand held multimeter things, but just because I have a scalpel in my hand doesn't mean I know how to do surgery.

Anybody help?
 
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Let's see if I can remember everything that was told to me when I went through this just last month:

How's the battery voltage at rest and when you try to start the bike?
What voltage are you getting at both sides of the solenoid?
Are you getting voltage at the starter?
Does the starter turn at all when jumping across the solenoid with a screwdriver?
Are your grounds good?

I'm sure I'm missing something but that should give a good start. Might want to read through the starter threads I created as there were some other thoughts thrown out in those. What ultimately fixed my problem was replacing the starter with a good one.
 
Check wiring on clutch handle/safety switch, could have pulled the wires and moved it out of adjustment when righting the bike. Also go thru the wiring on the kill switch and start button, a right side tip-over or when picking up the bike could have affected the wiring there.
 
Whitedog said:
Check wiring on clutch handle/safety switch, could have pulled the wires and moved it out of adjustment when righting the bike. Also go thru the wiring on the kill switch and start button, a right side tip-over or when picking up the bike could have affected the wiring there.
Click to expand...

A couple weeks ago, mine died and I couldn't get it started again.
Turned out when I removed the right hand switch housing where the starter button is, the kill switch wire was pinched. An easy fix, for once!
 
Trying to think what in the starter solenoid circuit could have been efected by the bike falling over.

Hey, did it fall on the clutch lever side? Maybe it knocked the clutch switch out of adjustment.

B ut anyway, instead of randomly suspecting this or that and not knowing, lets do some troubleshooting.

You have voltg meter. See if getting voltage to the small terminal of solenoid. Put positive lead of meter on the small terminal, and the negitive on the battery negitve or frame ground, when pullin in clutch and hit starter button.
If dont have voltage there, then need to look atg the starter button circuit which includes the kill swtich the starter buttion and the clutch switch (I suspecetr the clutch swtich).
If have voltage there then do not need to look at the starter button and cluitch switch circuit, but do it again with negitive meter lead on the solenoid mounting bolt (where should be a ground wire).

Tell us more what you find.

.
 
cowboyup3371 said:
Does the starter turn at all when jumping across the solenoid with a screwdriver?
Click to expand...
That started it up right away!

I'm guessing I need to check this out...
Whitedog said:
Check wiring on clutch handle/safety switch, could have pulled the wires and moved it out of adjustment when righting the bike. Also go thru the wiring on the kill switch and start button, a right side tip-over or when picking up the bike could have affected the wiring there.
Click to expand...
 
Hmm. If you left the bike in the "RUN" position but removed the key when you went into work, the battery shouldn't have drained ordinarily. Assuming that to be the case, I don't believe your 5 min ride to/from work is long enough to fully recharge the battery after cranking her up to start, especially if your bike has to crank several times to fire up like mine does, especially when starting cold.

With that said, if you do lots of home-work-home cycle, invest in a trickle charger to charge your batter up over night. A properly working charging system should get to back home again. BUT, if you start out with a battery that is not fully charged due to an inoperable or ineffective charging system, expect to have to push start like you did. (part near top of hill!). Double check your charging system while your at it
 
Problem solved!

After doing the screwdriver test (started right up)
I looked at the wiring in the starter switch. Nothing looked wrong.

I followed the wiring from the solenoid to the bunch of wires that used to live in the headlight bucket... (did I mention that last week or so I replaced the original headlight fixture with the one in the S fairing? Yeah, that might be important)

I followed the clutch wire to the same mess of wires.

Removed the fairing (newly installed) and found an unconnected wire.
Connected that and now the clutch safety switch functions, and the starter switch does its job.

So the turn had been sharp enough to jostle a wire free.

And now I know a little more than I knew before :)

Man there's a lot of wires there.

Thanks for your help, GSRs! Roll on!
 
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Glad to hear it was an easy fix. Have had nearly the same thing happen to one or two older bikes in the past.
 
I just bypassed my clutch switch. It can be a pita if it doesnt work properly. IMO they are for nubs who would try to start in gear anyway. I always start in neutral, harder on the battery to start in gear with the clutch in.
 
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