Starter Relay

[JimmyR]

I have a weird question - I have an 82 GS1100 but the picture of what's under the left cover in the Clymer book is different from mine! Mine doesn't have a starter relay under it. Where would I find the starter relay?? I don't have one anywhere under the seat or tank. Did some bikes not have one? How does that work?

[BassCliff]

Hi,

It could be that a previous owner has replaced it and/or moved it. An aftermarket replacement can look very different from stock. To find your starter solenoid just follow the positive battery cable. It should be connected to the solenoid. Post up some pictures so that we can verify what's what.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[bwringer]

Do you have a chain drive or shaft drive GS1100?

[Redman]

................... Did some bikes not have one? ...

No, some bikes do not not have one, well, unless they dont have a starter motor.

No bike is going to have a starter button that can handle the starter motor current, and even if it did would then also have to have the thick big battery cables going to that starter button and back to the starter.

TO find the starter solenoid do like Cliff suggested; follow the thick cable from battery positive. Or go the other way, follow the tick cable from the starter motor.

GS1100G or GL? GS1100E?

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[kwest187]

It'll also either be mounted directly to the frame for a ground, or have a ground wire coming off of it.

I don't have one on my chopped Sportster...and it does have a starter-but I've modified it so I can manually press contact for the starter motor, thus plunging the starter gear-

[JimmyR]

Well it must be under the starter motor cover. I've looked everywhere else. FWIW it's a GS1100G shafty. <<update>> Ok I just went out and checked under the starter motor cover. There is just one thick wire coming out that went straight to the positive terminal of the battery. I also checked the handlebar controls but I have disconnected the loom now so it just went to a socket. I checked the loom but there is nothing that looks like anything other than wire there.

The bike has been rewired and is a complete mess which is why I am redoing it all. It did run before though. Oh well. It will be a lot neater soon!

[Flatline_Racing]

If the wire goes from the starter straight to the battery then your starter would run all the time.

[JimmyR]

Oh - and what is a starter interlock switch? I sure as heck don't have one of those either!

[Flatline_Racing]

Starter interlock is usually a switch in the clutch lever. Won't let you activate the starter without pulling in the clutch lever. Some people bypass this by disconecting the 2 wires from the switch and hooking them together.

[JimmyR]

Ok - yay! - I found the starter motor relay. I only found it because I looked it up on a parts fiche and recognised the part. On my schematic it shows that the relay has four wires - a big red one that goes to the battery + terminal. Yup, got that. Then there are a yellow/green and a black/white - Y/G goes to the starter button via an interlock switch and B/W goes to a ground buss. Well I have the Y/G but no B/W - does it connect to the screw terminal on the relay?

Then there is another red on the relay which attaches to the same terminal as the big red wire. Is this the wire that goes to the starter motor? I wouldn't have thought so.

[JimmyR]

Here is the culprit.

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m507/JimmyR14/relay008.jpg

This is just a guess, but I suspect that the red wire to the starter should go from the lug top left that currently has nothing attached. But where does the ground go? Ie where is the ground wire?

[Flatline_Racing]

Yes, starter conect to the other lug. The body of the relay grounds to the frame. Same thing for the starter itself, the body is grounded to the engine.

There should be a larger gauge wire coming off the battery negative terminal that is bolted to the engine cases under the carbs. Make sure it is in good shape because bad gounds can cause all sorts of problems.

[Redman]

So you could not find the solenoid on the bike, because it was not on the bike.

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This is just a guess, but I suspect that the red wire to the starter should go from the lug top left that currently has nothing attached. ....

Yes.

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. But where does the ground go? Ie where is the ground wire?

WIll be a black/white wire from the wiring harness that has a ring terminal. THis is connected to the mounting bolt that bolts the solenoid to the battery box. The solenoid gets its ground through its case. Need that black/white wire from wiring harness because the battery box itself may not be well connected to the frame.


THe thinner red wire there with the thick battery cable, is the hot lead to the fusebox and the rectifyer/regulator.

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[JimmyR]

Hey thanks guys - just what I needed to know. Yes there is indeed a nice thick wire that gores from the battery neg to the engine. I labelled the battery connections before disconnecting them. So at least I got that bit right.

I feel confident in doing the wiring in one respect and that is that I have built many tube guitar amplifiers so know how to read a schematic. But bike diagrams have different things on them and the grounding is done differently. In amplifiers where you ground something is very important because grounding in the wrong place can induce instability, noise and all sorts of potential weirdness. So I'm very conscious of where I am grounding things. It seems that with bikes as long as something is grounded solidly and consistently that is enough. Although I do notice that the lighting ground is often separated from the control ground.

Thanks!