Good Starter Relay, Bad wiring?

[Ned]

I recently bought a second hand '05 GS500 that wasn't starting.

After putting in a new battery I followed the Haynes manual and found:
- The fuse is good,
- The starter clicked,
- The voltage between the yellow/green and black/white wires in the red terminal connecting to the starter relay read 0.26v.

Is it safe to assume that the ends of those wires will need to be pulled out of the terminal, cleaned up, and placed back?

Cheers!

[mr72]

I don't have the wiring diagram in front of me to decode your colors, but am I to understand you are trying to say the contact resistance results in a 0.26V drop? That sounds pretty normal considering the starter should draw something like 30A, so doing the math, 0.26 = 30* R tells you R is under 0.01 ohms.

If the battery is good, the relay is firing, and the starter isn't turning, then it's the starter. IME with cars and motorcycles over the past 4 decades: 90% of the time the problem is corroded terminals on the battery itself, and once that is solved, 99% of the time it's the battery no matter what else you think. Usually people hope it's the starter relay or starter solenoid, because they are in denial that their battery is bad. In that 1% of cases where the battery really is good and the terminals are clean and tight, it's the starter.

[Ned]

I've attached the relevant part of the wiring diagram. Green/yellow goes to the clutch switch. Black/white goes just about everywhere, including ignition.

I'm far from a wiz at electronics. With the starter relay firing, the multimeter registered 0.26v between the two wires at the connection at the starter relay. I assumed I should've been expecting 12v +/-1?

The battery is new from the shop, though I haven't tested it to see if it's actually good or bung.

If nothing changes after cleaning the connections and battery terminals, would it be worth checking the clutch switch, neutral switch, and side stand relay? Or just replace the starter (relay or motor?)?

[mr72]

That's the coil on the relay. If you are only getting 0.26V across those terminals then the rest of the 12.x volts has to be dropping across some other series resistance in the circuit. Ohm's Law, assuming your battery is 12.x VDC. Of course, 0.26V is not enough to fire the relay. So I'd have to conclude it's measurement error. Are you sure you are measuring VDC and not AC? Plus, why measure this? You should be measuring if the starter terminal is being energized when the relay closes.