Interesting starting problem

[adidasguy]

The starter relay hold the fuse and stuff so replace with the real thing.
Like I said - parts whores have them.

[The Buddha]

We did end up checking resistance and voltage coming to and from the solenoid when the starter is pressed. We measured power on the starter motor end (black wire/bolt on the solenoid) and we also measured the power on the battery end (red wire/bolt). We came to the conclusion the starter button works,battery is fine, and there's no wiring problems based on that. The bike shouldn't of cranked at all if any of the switches were bad (it started fine at the gas station and cranked fine in the driveway up until the time it died if you look back at the first post). I was able to push start the bike successfully which rules out the kill switch. It should of died immediately if the kill switch was bad.

Since shorting the solenoid caused the bike to turn over immediately without hesitation we ruled the starter motor and battery to be okay. Everything seems to be going the way of the solenoid. Especially with the ability to jump the solenoid to start the bike but no audible click coming from the solenoid otherwise.

Before you run out and buy a starter solenoid, try the starter switch contact one more time. They can work fine 1 time and not the next, and really a bit of cleaning and a bit of solder will do the trick.
Cool.
Buddha.

[Dr.McNinja]

Got the relay in yesterday. Installed it in 20 or so minutes because I kept fat fingering the connectors. That rubber boot is REALLY hard to get on when you have bigger-than-a-japanese-mechanic's hands.

Anyway, that was the problem. I pulled the old one off, installed the new one, and it works like new. Here's the funny thing though. After shorting the clutch safety a few nights back I must've not reconnected the clutch safety after I was done with all the tests. Upon installing the new relay I went to start it and my heart sank because it didn't work. Then I looked there and I plugged it back in. Second problem avoided!

The old solenoid was completely destroyed on the inside. I have absolutely no idea how that could happen. You could shake it and hear solenoid bits rattling around.


Quite a few lessons learned. I love working on motorcycles. Thanks everyone.