Starter Problems

[dmcomie]

New to this forum. Have a 84 VR. The starter was attempting to turn the bike over the other day. After a few attempts to start the bike, all power to the starter was lost and it no longer makes noise when I press the starter button. When I press the starter button the lights on the bike dim, but again no sound. The battery is brand new and all power works fine. There is a spark in the starter casing when I open that up so it looks like that is working. Not a mechanic by any means. Looking for advice/ suggestions?

[Flyinfool]

Start with the easy stuff.

Does the headlight go out completely when you press the starter button? It should.

Did you bump the kill switch and turn it to off, Happens pretty often?

Is the bike in neutral?

Try pulling in the clutch to see if that will let it crank.

Hook a volt meter across the battery, what is the voltage before you press the start button and what is the voltage while the button is pressed?

Charge the battery again to see if it was just to low to turn the engine over, you may need to take it in to get load tested to be sure it is good.

 

If everything is going dim, and the motor does not turn over, pull all of the spark plugs and turn it over to be sure you do not have a hydro lock situation. Careful, if you have a cylinder full of liquid it will come out fast and soak everything.

[bongobobny]

What FF said! The starter switch has a separate set of contacts that turns off the headlight when pressed so that the starter gets as much power as possible. If the voltage does not drop a significant amount when the starter button is pressed, then your solenoid may be bad, it's mounted on the side of the battery box. If the voltage drops significantly then possibly the starter is bad. Also check your battery connections and clean the grounds from both the battery and the starter.

[GeorgeS]

Starter solinoids on these bikes, fail between about 60K and 100 K. Common problem. Just order a new one.

 

Check for Loose Nuts on the Solinoid.

 

Check for Loose battery stud bolts.

 

Clean the Neg Battery cable, at forward , right corner of crankcase. ( near water pump )

 

Check the 10MM nut on the Starter where Red Cable connects. ( do not overtorque, the bolt will twist off inside of starter motor )

 

Open up the Starter Switch, and clean the contacts with contact cleaner.

 

Just a few places to start looking.

[frankd]

Something that I'd do before I changed the solenoid would be to take a 12 Volt test light (available at auto part stores), connect the lead to ground and hold the probe on the wire that's going into the starter. Make sure that the bike is in neutral, and have somebody turn the key on and push the starter button. If the light comes ON, you have melted your starter, if not, then maybe the solenoid has been cooked.