Went from clicking relay to what I assume is a dead relay.

[Gaul]

'81 GS850G, runs, starter works, solenoid has a current, I believe the starter relay is burnt out and stopping the current. The lead from the relay wont run the starter but when you bypass to the battery, it spins right up.

So I've had this bike for over a year. Spent a while getting it running, after tearing off all the old mods. She ran very well for about 6-7 months. But after that, I would notice a clicking noise coming from right side, under the side panel, before starting it up each morning. It was a continuous, rapid clicking. (I later located the source to be the relay box) But this didn't stop the starter and I rode it out without giving it much concern. But after about a month, the ignition became finicky and it would take me a couple tries to get going. Eventually it wouldn't even try to start.

So after leaving it on the tender for a couple of days, I got a day off and asked a neighbor to take a look with me. We troubleshot the solenoid, and saw it was getting power. Then we tried the starter, and it didn't go so well. After hours of trying to figure out the mounts, and popping the case, (long story that left me with an oil change) we got that bastard out of there. We wired it to a car battery with jumper cables and she ran beautifully. The issue was that we had run down the bike battery so much, it hadn't had enough power to crank the starter. So now the thought is that the relay is the issue.

I've pulled the relay and its blacked over with what I assume is burnt plastic at the corners, hanging over the coil. We ran out of sunlight to go looking for another. Do you think this is the issue? Is it possible to just scrape this **** off and throw her back in? I don't want to throw away a 30 year old piece of history and replace it with some generic POS relay pieced together by some mistreated, underage slave in southeast asia. Also the bike roll starts fine and I rode it around town to get the charge back up. Thanks!

 

[tkent02]

Do some electrical troubleshooting. Got a multimeter? You mention ignition, charging and starting, three separate circuits. Which is really the problem? And you mention an oil change, always a good idea but what other maintenance has been done?

Where in Colorado are you?

Is this a Cushman, a CZ or some type of Suzuki?

 

[Gaul]

Do some electrical troubleshooting. Got a multimeter? You mention ignition, charging and starting, three separate circuits. Which is really the problem? And you mention an oil change, always a good idea but what other maintenance has been done?

Where in Colorado are you?

Is this a Cushman, a CZ or some type of Suzuki?

**** I totally forgot the most basic information. Editing.

 

[tkent02]

Any old starter relay will work, or get a used piece of history from someone on this forum.

A lot of people use a relay for a lawnmower starter.

 

[chuck hahn]

Someone long ago mentioned they took their starter selinoid with them to Lowes and found a few that were almost identical. I would suspect Tractor Supply or an older 60s or 70s car would maybe have about the same deal bolted to the fender wall.

 

[ron bayless]

Someone long ago mentioned they took their starter selinoid with them to Lowes and found a few that were almost identical. I would suspect Tractor Supply or an older 60s or 70s car would maybe have about the same deal bolted to the fender wall.

Lowes has one for a garden tractor.Cost $12.80.

 

[Redman]

When you said "relay was getting power" did you mean:
- power at the big terminal from the battery...?
- power at the big terminal with cable to the starter when push starter button...?
- power at the small wire from starter button when push starter button....? if that is what you meant, I would then ask where did you have your meter negative lead? If it was on battery negative or some bike frame part, you need to do it again with meter negative on the starter solenod mount. The starter solenoid is grounded thru its mounting. And solenoid is mounted on the battery box, right? Sometimes the battery box is not well grounded.

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