Starter shorting out main fuse?

[gremlin]

rember to lube up your starter motor bearings. check every thing in the starter. windigns bearings. burshes. then work your way back to the battery and slonoid. adding a second ground to the motor and frame is a good ideal.

[lucabond]

Just thinking out loud, if you bump started the motor with the starter disconected and the fuse still blew I would think its not the starter. If it didn't blow and everything worked then you would have to think it was the starter getting hot and shorting internaly. Or bypass the starter relay completely take the 2 large wires from the relay touch them together to turn the starter and start the motor,once started seperate the 2 starter wires and see if it still blows as the starter would now be disconected from the bike its something else I would think.

[burp reynolds]

Exactly.

Just thinking out loud, if you bump started the motor with the starter disconected and the fuse still blew I would think its not the starter. If it didn't blow and everything worked then you would have to think it was the starter getting hot and shorting internaly. Or bypass the starter relay completely take the 2 large wires from the relay touch them together to turn the starter and start the motor,once started seperate the 2 starter wires and see if it still blows as the starter would now be disconected from the bike its something else I would think.

I bump started it, drove it half a block (tank was off) and checked again, the fuse was fine. I don't remember now if I tried jumpering the starter feed across the solenoid, but there's no point now until I get a starter that doesn't have an internal ground out, is there?

[chef1366]

What're you thinking for one? By the way, with that stable, my wife and I might show up in Bakersfield batting our eyelashes and asking for rides on your Suzies.

Both of you will have to fight over the one I have.
PM sent

[burp reynolds]

Right!

Burp,

Okay, you got me interested. Lets ponder this.
But what would happen if the starter motor itself shorted to ground..... lets see... it would drag the battery voltage down to way low, the charging system would really try to put out a lot to make up for it (thru the main fuse), maybe that is what blows the main fuse, dont know this from experience, just pondering. hummm...
Yah, the starter motor shorting to ground would be shorting out the battery positive to ground AND shorting out the charging sytem to ground (thru the main fuse). Okay... had not thought of it that way before. So, yah, the starter motor shorting to ground would blow the main fuse even though there is no fuse in the starter motor circuit.


Adding a ground wire to the r/r... that is more related to improving the charging ciruit, is not related to your problem of blowing the main fuse and the starter motor.

.

That's brilliant! Or completely mad! Or both!

I was wondering how the solenoid could be bad when it's not blowing the ignition fuse.

I guess that means I could change the fuse, put the bad starter back in, bump start it, drive around the block, check the fuse, find out it's good, bump it again, and then on my way around the block, hit the starter and blow the fuse. And look completely bat**** insane, because that wouldn't really confirm your theory. It would take my mind off this problem while I'm waiting for my new starter to arrive though.

Thanks!

Oh, I've been waiting to settle on a paint job I like before I shoot too many pictures. The flame job that was on it was ludicrous. I think the PO thought is was an L.

PS, wot's a R/R?

[lucabond]

So it runs without using the starter and doesn't blow the fuse..What are the odds that its the selenoid internally shorting the +side of the battery as it supplys current to the starter ? If you pulled the lead going from the starter
off the selenoid jury rigged an inline fuse on that lead the same rating as your main fuse connect an external battery with the - lead going to ground the + side thru the fuse and crank the starter to see if the fuse still pops if not I'd say its the selenoid getting hot from the current its supplying. That would nail down the starter as being bad if the fused did pop that way. Once it poped check the power bolt on the starter to the case to see if it shows a short. That must have been some ride without a seat ouch... If i could only spell I would rule the world...
p.s. you did check the wire from the selnoid to the starter for any signs of it rubbing up against metal and shorting that way.
my bad you said the tank was off silly me...

[Redman]

Burp,

"r/r" is "regulator/rectifyer", oh, wait, maybe its "rectifyer/regulator".

Anyway, its one of the two main parts of the charging system, the other part being the stator.

.

[burp reynolds]

Ok, but

I had that problem also turned about to be my alternator/stator not my starter on my 550.

Ok, but did your starter test as a closed circuit? I'm really starting to wonder if a starter is just supposed to act that way and that I'm just nuts.

[burp reynolds]

So get THIS!

I thought we had this figured out. I won a used starter on ebay for about 20 bucks shipped, and tested it through the solenoid by holding the case against the bike. It spun great for about a second and a half - just as long as the old one did - and then the fuse blew again. Dug out my roommate's voltmeter, and found the starter to be a dead short. What are the odds that a starter supposedly pulled from a running bike was bad? Maybe my bike turns starters bad? Are any of you guys familiar with voodoo?

[burp reynolds]

So it runs without using the starter and doesn't blow the fuse..What are the odds that its the selenoid internally shorting the +side of the battery as it supplys current to the starter ? If you pulled the lead going from the starter
off the selenoid jury rigged an inline fuse on that lead the same rating as your main fuse connect an external battery with the - lead going to ground the + side thru the fuse and crank the starter to see if the fuse still pops if not I'd say its the selenoid getting hot from the current its supplying. That would nail down the starter as being bad if the fused did pop that way. Once it poped check the power bolt on the starter to the case to see if it shows a short.

Oh, right. So the fuse is between the solenoid and the starter? I could try that. Oh, and I did check the power bolt on the starter with a voltmeter and a circuit tester. Both say that the starter completes a circuit. This is the thing i want to be most clear on, because I want to be sure that this is definitely a problem. Not the problem, but a problem. I want to make sure everybody notices this line because it's the thing that is most suspicious to me. I clamped the black wire from my battery charger to the case of my starter (both starters now) and clamped a turn signal bulb onto the red wire from the charger. When I pressed the bulb's anode onto the positive post that connects the starter to the solenoid, the bulb lit right up. Is this the way a starter is supposed to behave? I am beginning to wonder if I have been missing something all along, so I want to know what God Himself would say if I posed that question to him. And I'm talking Old Testament God, the one where everything's black and white. Ten Commandments, no exceptions. Is a starter definitely not supposed to appear to complete a circuit? That's all I want to know.

[rustybronco]

I clamped the black wire from my battery charger to the case of my starter (both starters now) and clamped a turn signal bulb onto the red wire from the charger. When I pressed the bulb's anode onto the positive post that connects the starter to the solenoid, the bulb lit right up. Is this the way a starter is supposed to behave

Yes.
the starter has a low resistance, (but not zero) that would allow current to flow to the light bulb, and would have very little effect on the bulbs brilliance.
BUT, the bigger question is, how much current does the starter draw? put an in-line fuse, (5 or 10amp, not sure how much starters draw) from the positive of the charger and hook that to the post on the starter.
does it blow then?

now I have a question for you... when did light bulbs start having anodes? (or cathodes for that matter)

so I want to know what God Himself would say if I posed that question to him

I suspect He would say... don't worry about the starter, worry how you treat others...

[rustybronco]

Remember, the starter is not the only thing drawing current, when it is being spun.
but it may be the thing, putting the amperage draw over the top, and the result is the fuse blowing.

did you disconnect the rectifier/regulator (R/R) yet?

[chef1366]

You have short somewhere. Maybe even the fuse block. Maybe karma for not buying my starter.

[burp reynolds]

You have short somewhere. Maybe even the fuse block. Maybe karma for not buying my starter.

I sure hope it is just a short. And I still might be buying that thing. Let's see what happens today.

[Matchless]

I am not sure if you have proven the solenoid yet as not the culprit. Just disconnect the main lead to the starter so the starter does not spin and with everything on listen to make sure the solenoid clicks on and hold it there for a minute or two and see if the fuse still blows. Maybe the coil in the solenoid causes the fuse to blow once it heats up a little? or else just replace it and try again.