No crank: intermittent, can't find a fault.

[Agemax]

you can never have to many grounds, as long as they all end up in contact with the battery - at the end.....

i have many ground wires, same as STT, motor to frame, R/R and starter solenoid to frame, all other grounds go direct to frame as well. my battery - is grounded straight to frame also, not to the motor

[Steel Toed Tank]

you can never have to many grounds, as long as they all end up in contact with the battery - at the end.....

i have many ground wires, same as STT, motor to frame, R/R and starter solenoid to frame, all other grounds go direct to frame as well. my battery - is grounded straight to frame also, not to the motor

Yeah if I didn't specify, my battery is grounded to frame. That's the BIG one.
The engine is grounded to the frame through all of it's mounts.

My engine to battery wire is just to be extra sure.

And if you look at my left solenoid mounting bolt, you can see the solenoid to frame ground.

[ThrottleBack]

Yeah if I didn't specify, my battery is grounded to frame. That's the BIG one.
The engine is grounded to the frame through all of it's mounts.

My engine to battery wire is just to be extra sure.

And if you look at my left solenoid mounting bolt, you can see the solenoid to frame ground.

I love this place. Here's hoping all this solves the issue and prevents others.

[ChicagoRob]

80% of the time I hit start and she fires right up. But randomly I will hit start and get nothing. This time I opened the kill/start cluster to fix the throttle cable and upon reassembly the start button gets me nothing. Heres what I have and know:

I'm not familiar with the TX's, but do they have a clutch switch? If it does, you may want to jump it to reduce your variables.

I had the same problem and it turned out to be a tiny bit of corrosion on the starter button. Sounds like you've already licked that one, though.

Reading over your description it really sounds like kill switch to me. I know, it tested well, but the problem is intermittent isn't it? If you only have symptoms 20% of the time a random test of a component will only fail 20% of the time. An open kill switch will prevent the starter from cranking and prevent it from firing. A bad starter switch will only prevent it from turning over so your jumped solenoid test should have worked.

When you turn the key the idiot lights come on so you know that the ignition circuit is working. The kill switch isn't like that. When you turn it on nothing obvious happens. I happen to have a coil relay mod on mine so I hear an audible relay click when I hit the switch so I know that the circuit is closed. Perhaps you should do something similar by temporarily adding a led to that circuit (at the coil connection, perhaps) so when it's closed, you have a light to check.

Now if you verified that the kill switch circuit was closed when you jumped the contacts on the solenoid, I got nothing.

Rob

[Killer2600]

you can never have to many grounds

When you have to fix ground loop problems you'll realize yes you can have TOO many grounds.

[Agemax]

When you have to fix ground loop problems you'll realize yes you can have TOO many grounds.

not if you know which ground is associated with which circuit!

[Killer2600]

not if you know which ground is associated with which circuit!

That ends up being the problem, circuits end up grounding in ways not expected and causing faults that show up on other circuits. Ironically, most DIYer's will "fix" this by putting in MORE grounds. Also, ground loops and stray electrons will tend to cause corrosion problems - most notably on marine vessels or vehicles that stay close to salt water.

For the OP: connect a jump lead between the battery negative and the solenoid body, if your start button works flawlessly then you know you have a bad ground between the solenoid body and the battery.

[ThrottleBack]

I'm not familiar with the TX's, but do they have a clutch switch? If it does, you may want to jump it to reduce your variables.

I had the same problem and it turned out to be a tiny bit of corrosion on the starter button. Sounds like you've already licked that one, though.

Reading over your description it really sounds like kill switch to me. I know, it tested well, but the problem is intermittent isn't it? If you only have symptoms 20% of the time a random test of a component will only fail 20% of the time. An open kill switch will prevent the starter from cranking and prevent it from firing. A bad starter switch will only prevent it from turning over so your jumped solenoid test should have worked.

When you turn the key the idiot lights come on so you know that the ignition circuit is working. The kill switch isn't like that. When you turn it on nothing obvious happens. I happen to have a coil relay mod on mine so I hear an audible relay click when I hit the switch so I know that the circuit is closed. Perhaps you should do something similar by temporarily adding a led to that circuit (at the coil connection, perhaps) so when it's closed, you have a light to check.

Now if you verified that the kill switch circuit was closed when you jumped the contacts on the solenoid, I got nothing.

Rob

Yes it's intermittent but i'm testing the kill switch while the issue is presenting and the kill passes, so it's not the issue.

That ends up being the problem, circuits end up grounding in ways not expected and causing faults that show up on other circuits. Ironically, most DIYer's will "fix" this by putting in MORE grounds. Also, ground loops and stray electrons will tend to cause corrosion problems - most notably on marine vessels or vehicles that stay close to salt water.

For the OP: connect a jump lead between the battery negative and the solenoid body, if your start button works flawlessly then you know you have a bad ground between the solenoid body and the battery.

Can't believe I forgot to try that

[Agemax]

That ends up being the problem, circuits end up grounding in ways not expected and causing faults that show up on other circuits. Ironically, most DIYer's will "fix" this by putting in MORE grounds. Also, ground loops and stray electrons will tend to cause corrosion problems - most notably on marine vessels or vehicles that stay close to salt water.

For the OP: connect a jump lead between the battery negative and the solenoid body, if your start button works flawlessly then you know you have a bad ground between the solenoid body and the battery.

if a circuit needs a ground then it doesn't matter where it is grounded, as ultimately they are all connected to each other.......

[ThrottleBack]

Hoping today to tackle running these extra grounds and swapping out connectors. Got to go through my mess of a shop first and find my labels.

[ChicagoRob]

Can't believe I forgot to try that

If that's the problem, why didn't it start when you jumped the solenoid? If you have juice to the coils and that engine turns over, it should fire no matter what state the connections to the solenoid are in.

[hjfisk]

It sounds more to me like the plug on the ignition switch could be the culprit, with random ignition, meaning will turn over but not start.

[Agemax]

If that's the problem, why didn't it start when you jumped the solenoid? If you have juice to the coils and that engine turns over, it should fire no matter what state the connections to the solenoid are in.

you can jump the solenoid and the motor will spin over with the ignition switch off, but it wont fire

[ThrottleBack]

If that's the problem, why didn't it start when you jumped the solenoid? If you have juice to the coils and that engine turns over, it should fire no matter what state the connections to the solenoid are in.

NEver said that was the issue but it would indicate a ground issue with the panel.

CAme out today turned it on and hit start. Bike cranks now (magic!) But wont start. It just cranks and every ten seconds or so lets off a backfire like a gunshot.

[ThrottleBack]

The electrical system is getting redone. It has always ran great there must be something electrical screwing it all up