Click on start - battery or relay? Or?...

[Guest]

Greetings all,

Last few rides (1980 GS400ET), the bike has been a bit slow to turn over in the morning. Nothing radical, just 2 or three quick start presses before firing up, but I thought before it got worse, I'd top up the charge in the battery which I hadn't done since last fall. So when I took it out and tested it, sure enough, the old-fashioned 'turkey baster with balls inside' hydrometer wasn't floating a single ball in any of the cells. (Not a precision instrument, I know, but always enough to tell me what I need to know in the past.)

So I hooked it up to my 1 amp charger and over the course of a few days (only pluging it in when I was home), got the cells up to 3 out of 4 balls floating. (Takes forever to get that 4th ball up, and three has always been more than enough for my needs.) Put it back in the bike and ... got the dreaded solenoid click.

Hadn't touched anything but the battery cables on the bike (though since then I've cleaned the contacts on both battery posts and cables and solenoid posts and cables), so it seems like an odd coincidence that the solenoid would choose this moment to fail. But the battery presumably has significantly more juice than it did a few days ago, so that doesn't seem like an obvious cause either. But I'm assuming it has to be one or the other. (If this helps, when I hit the start switch and hear the click, the Neutral and Oil lights show no change, but the High Beam indicator dims slightly, so presumably SOMETHING's drawing power.)


So, for people who have much more experience with electrics than me, do you think I should start with a new battery (current one 7 years old, but working fine till now), or trust my turkey baster and replace the solenoid, or start looking elsewhere?


As always, thanks for your input.

[posplayr]

get a volt meter and do the Quick test. See if you can get past Step 2.

[cowboyup3371]

Also, when was the last time you checked your valve clearances? As they get tighter they will cause some starting issues.

And to answer the other question, I would still look at replacing the battery anyway but that's just my personal opinion. I like the Motobatt AGM style in both of our 550s and will put one in the Bandit when that time comes.

[jharvey]

I really DO need to get a volt meter - over the years every time I've been about to buy one, I either get a loan, the problem 'heals,' or it turns out to be something the bike has to go into the shop for (where there are volt meters aplenty, one assumes). If I had a nickle for every time I almost bought a volt meter, I could buy a volt meter.

In the meantime, I did get a new battery. Given that my batteries usually seem to last about 5 years and this one was seven, I figured that even if it turns out to be something else, I'd be replacing the battery soon anyway, and since the closest places with one were MILES away, and my brother was in town with his car, I figured I'd get it now.

Which has told me that even if the old battery hasn't bit the dust, my hydrometer has - with the electrolyte just added to the cells and no charging, it was floating 3 out of 4 balls, so presumably those little balls deteriorate over time and need a lot less to get a rise out of them, so to speak.

So, new battery hooked up to charger for now to see what happens tomorrow, and then a pilgrimage for a voltmeter after the long weekend.

(Valve clearances re-set last summer, after another shop had completely screwed them up (but that's another story).)

Thanks again,

[wymple]

Cross the solenoid. If it cranks well it's not likely the battery.

[cowboyup3371]

(Valve clearances re-set last summer, after another shop had completely screwed them up (but that's another story).)

Thanks again,

I don't know how many miles you put on it this last year but keep in mind it should be checked roughly every 4000 miles; which for me equals about once a year

[jharvey]

Mileage since valve clearances done - Not sure, but since I, sadly, can only get out for an hour or two on fair weather weekends in the riding months, I doubt that I've done 4000 miles.

Cross the solenoid - So, with a new battery (didn't solve the problem, but as I said, the old one was due for replacing anyway), charged with a tender-type charger that I kept plugged in a good six hours after it switched to 'maintain' mode, but still the single click, I crossed the two large posts with a screwdriver (as in this vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7eE3JAcUx4) and got nothing. (Ignition was on, and Run/Stop switch was at run, but I wasn't pushing the start button - do I need to do that too, or does crossing the solenoid bypass the need for the start button?)

So I'm guessing that eliminates the solenoid as the problem (unless I should have been pressing the start button)...

[wymple]

You don't need to press the start button