Old faithful won't start

[HiSPL]

I jumped on the bike this morning to go to work, and she didn't start. When I turned the key all the lights came on like usual but when I hit the button nothing happened. I thought it was my clutch switch giving me trouble because its been a little squirrely lately. So, I tried rolling down the driveway and popping the clutch. It usually starts really easily when doing this, however, when I popped the clutch the motor turned and did not fire up, AND, all my lights went out :? ...

So, I go to look at it tonight, and starting at the fuse block I start trouble shooting. No fuses are blown. I even took them out one by one to meter them to make sure. Now my lights are working again. It seems that removing and replacing the turn sig/dash light fuse did the trick. But the bike still won't start. I go through the clutch switch, and its working properly now. I go through the start button and its OK too. I verified continuity from the battery through the key-clutch-kill-start combo and every thing is working fine. So I begin to look at the starter solenoid. Here's where I'm baffled. The trigger on the solenoid is showing continuity to ground no matter what I do to the switches. Is this right? Or is that wrong and I should be looking for a pinched wire somewhere? Also assuming that the starter solenoid is a negative trigger, Shouldn't it be trying to start the bike all the time now? Cus its not :roll: ...

I also can't help but think that the fuse block is related to this mess. It was just too coincidental for the lights to quit working like that at the same time the starter quits. BTW, the bike is an 81 750E. TIA....

[SqDancerLynn1]

You didn't say if you checked the battery? The small wire on the starter solinoid will measure to Ground. A voltage is applied to the coil which induces a magnatic field that operates the solinoid

[Hap Call]

I would check the solenoid and clean the contacts on the kill switch on the right handlebar...

Hap

[HiSPL]

Riddle me this Thong-Man.... Is it +12 volts or -12 volts that triggers the solenoid? (yellow/green stripe wire)

BTW, the whole house is sick except for me so I didn't look at the bike today.... It may be a day or two before I can hammer this out :roll: .



VIVA LA SPRING HILL COUNTRY RIDE!!!!!

[Anonymous]

I don't know what you mean by trigger, but in general it goes from your starter button in series with your clutch switch then the solenoid (coil) then to ground. So if you check anywhere from the none active line of your starter button to ground, you will have continuity to ground.

If you suspect the solenoid or the starter motor, either try bypassing it for the starter motor wires. ***Doing this will turn the starter motor assuming all is well, or apply 12 volts from the battery to the solenoid coil. (Not the ground side) again it should turn the starter motor if all is well.


This should help you figure out if the problem is either the solenoid or starter motor. Be carefull.

[HiSPL]

I know that the starter works 'cus I shorted the solenoid terminals with a screwdriver and it turned. My question is about how the solenoid is engaged... I have the two heavy guage wires (one from batt. one to starter). Then I have ONE yellow wire with a green stripe coming from the start switch. And thats it.

I assumed that the coil ground was connected through the mounting ears of the solenoid (chassis ground) and that the yellow green wire was the 12 volt positive required to energize the coil. This was my assumption. If it is not right, then how does the coil energize?

I could see it getting positive voltage from the battery through the heavy guage wire, then using a switched ground (yell/green wire) to complete the circuit. However, I read a ground on the Y/G wire all the time. So my question is, How is the coil energized? Which side is positive and which side is negative? And remember I only have three connections total on my solenoid; from battery, to starter, and from switch.....

Thanks for the replies so far....

[SqDancerLynn1]

Push the start button and 12v + is applied to the Y/G wire thru the soleniod coil to ground inducing a magnetic field in the coil that activates the soleniod to apply 12v to the starter. If the soleniod coil burns out it will usually cause the main fuse to blow when trying to start. I've been told A small soleniod from a lawn tractor will work

[HiSPL]

Thanks, Lynn Thats the info I was looking for....

[focus frenzy]

check the main ground cable connection at the rear of the engine.
also check the electrical system grounds, these will usualy be all at the same place, often to the battery box.
and check to be sure the battery box is grounding good.
it is best to run a extra, heavy ground wire from the battery box to the main ground wire.

[Hap Call]

Riddle me this Thong-Man.... Is it +12 volts or -12 volts that triggers the solenoid? (yellow/green stripe wire)

Well Tiny-Man, it is from the high side of your battery. The solenoid's frame is bolted to ground.

The Thong-Man has spoken!

Hap

[HiSPL]

Its fixed........ Its 1:45 AM but its fixed.

It turned out to be a bad connection in the headlight bucket combined with a crusty fuse block.

While I had it apart, I bypassed the headlight switch for the stator, so now all three phases are going straight to the reg/rec. with no connections (I soldered and heat shrinked all three). I cleaned and painted the plate that holds all the electrical stuff. I soldered some other connectors that needed it. And, I cleaned out my fuse box and the right side switchgear. All in all a good nights work.

Now I'm going to bed......G'night