For some time, my wife's bike has had a bit of difficulty starting. Sometimes it would just take a stern look at the starter button to get it going (as it should), other times we would push the button and it would sound like the battery just tanked to about 6 volts and just would NOT turn the engine over once more. Even after an overnight session on the battery tender, it was a 50/50 proposition whether it would start easily or not.
A couple of weeks ago, we stopped at the Post Office on our way to lunch. Bike had started perfectly on the way there. Trying to leave, not only did it not start, the solenoid was making noise. Not the usual chatter (due to low voltage), but a distinct HUM. Pushed the bike to get it started, it worked, but we decided not to chance it going to lunch, so we pushed it to a corner of the parking lot, went home and got the trailer.
This past weekend, I finally got a chance to put in the spare starter. Tested it, it worked perfectly. Put the chrome cover on, tested it again, NOTHING.
Got out my clamp-on ammeter, clamped it on the battery-to-solenoid lead. Pushing the starter button, I found it pegging at about 180 amps.
I then started to remove the chrome starter cover and noticed that the far end of it was rather warm.
After removing the cover, I noticed that there was a small burn mark on the inside, that happened to match up with the melted insulator over the starter wire. Evidently, there has been a weak spot in the insulator that has occasionally been allowing a few electrons to flow through it, instead of letting them do their job in the starter's armature.
I hammered a dent in the cover where the burn mark was, to allow a bit more clearance.
Put the cover on, now the bike is back to starting with just a stern look at the starter button.
Sorry, no pictures were taken in all the frustration, I think the mental pictures will suffice.
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