Battery Charged, Starter Spins Slowly, No Start

[OldVet66]

Hopefully the new starter is good and will make your troubleshooting a lot easier. New heavier cables would be cheap insurance. I started with a star washer sandwich with an old lawnmower that would start smoking at the starter motor terminal. could never seem to get it clean enough or tight enough. Put star washers on both sides of the terminal with a flat washer on the nut side, and never saw it smoke again. I use that, stainless steel nuts and bolts and lock nuts, and have yet to have any grounding or connection issues with the heavier wires. Other connections can be a problem. I just did the coil relay mod, because after three years of continuous riding, I noticed some problems with things that had already been cleaned or replaced. It made a huge difference, so I guess it's time to go through everything again. This time. I'll start with a Eastern Beaver fuse box, more relays, horns, headlight, winter heated gear, modern sealed connectors,etc.

[Killer2600]

I'm thinking this goes back to what I asked earlier about replacing my cables. When I get the family out here I'll try replacing the battery to solenoid/fuse block, solenoid to starter, and ground to case cables just for a test. I will talk with OReillys tomorrow though to make sure what size I'll need.

Course, another test would be to just connect my bike battery directly to the starter while in the engine and see if that changes (much like the test when out of the bike. Right?

Yes that test could be done to eliminate the wiring on the bike, just hook up both a power and ground to the starter and be careful not to short your battery leads together or to ground. If the starter still turns slow the problem would be limited to the starter or an engine that is difficult to turn over.

As for O'Reily's, if anyone in there knows bikes intimately I'd be surprised. Stock battery to starter and back wiring is 8 gauge I've been told on here, 8 or 10 is my guess without comparing whats on the bike to a piece of either. I know it's not 6, 4, or anything large like that.

[argonsagas]

One of the first things I did to my bike was to run a #4 AWG ground from battery negative to the motor. This will insure the starter has a good ground, SS star washers on both sides of the terminals.

That was my first thought when reading of the problem.

As I read it, the starter seems OK, and voltage is great, but it cannot turn the engine.

This suggests insufficient amperage, and that is a first sign of poor grounding. I recall buying a brand newcar and having starting problems similar to this. The problem turned out to be dirt between the cable and the engine block. Once cleaned and tightened, the problems disappeared.

GS bikes are notorious for having grounding problems, so on my GS bikes, I added a second ground cable from the battery to the frame, using 6AWG automotive cable .


FYI....for starter parts, or complete starters, you can check stockers.com. They sell individual brushes and sets already mounted on plates. Their pricing is good and their stuff is good quality.


Here is a link for GS550

http://stockers.com/index.php?oc=1

[cowboyup3371]

Went back and tested the cables again - I'm only getting a .2v loss between the battery and starter and nothing on the ground side so it looks like my cables are good. Should be seeing starter number 3 tomorrow but have to get ready to leave Friday so probably won't be able to install it until next weekend so we'll see.

[cowboyup3371]

GS Scott graciously informed me yesterday he had a spare starter for my bike he would send out tomorrow. I should get it about the time I return from Colorado (1 Aug) so I'll test it some more then.

The starter from GS Scott finally arrived this past Monday (I arrived back in town Tuesday) and the girls and I tried to swap it out yesterday. However, we found the battery to be totally drained because I'd left the key on after testing things last week. Fortunately, the Motobatt fought back hard and today we had a great charge on it (13.2v 30 minutes after removing it from the charger) so off came the carbs and airbox. We then quickly tested the new starter, definitely torque in it now, and installed it. Before adding fuel, we tested the starter again in the bike and sure enough everything moved the way it was supposed to.

After a short break to get back into the air conditioning, the eldest and I connected the test tank and soaked up the lovely noise of Suzuki power emanating from both mufflers. Testing with the multimeter showed ~13v at idle and 14.5 - 14.8 at 4500 RPM. Then, a quick chicken and potatoes dinner led to a short 40 mile ride with the family following in the truck. It sure feels good being back on the bike and I hope it will stay running for quite awhile longer.

I think the best thing for today is that both girls came out to help. I tried to ensure both ladies did quite a bit of wrenching and explained what little I understand about how the electrics and tools work. I don't know about them but I sure loved the time.

[OldVet66]

Congratulations! Really glad to hear things finally worked out for you.