Really bad week.

[camos]

Everything seems to be falling apart over the past week and a bit.

 

Had the choke issue, mentioned in another thread, which now seems to be resolved except for the question of long term lubrication.

 

Starting problems. Turns over great and a few hours later it won't turn over at all. It's like a dead battery but it's not the battery. Got stuck in Victoria last week so the bike sat for 4 days and the engine started just like it should. Went to work that night and got off at 23:30. Wouldn't start. Left it in the parking lot and walked a few miles to catch the last bus of the night and was about a hundred yards away when it went by. Had to walk 3 hours to get home. Gaaak!!!

 

Cleaned the battery terminals first but didn't help much, had to get a jump the next morning. Then did the connection at the case for the negative wire to the starter. Didn't look bad and don't know yet if it will help. Can't find the positive connection at the solenoid. I should know where it is by now but I don't have a clue where to look. Guessing it's somewhere behind something. In any case, if someone would point me in the right direction it would be very helpful.

 

Did I mention it's 44 degrees and feels like 30 with a 20 mph wind blowing down my neck.

 

There's more but first things first. Gotta go to work at 23:30 tomorrow and would like to know the engine will start to get there and back.

[Marcarl]

The solenoid is stuck beside the battery on the left side facing forward. Also check the main fuse that's in a rectangular holder, and I believe it's stuck at the front of the battery.

[camos]

The solenoid is stuck beside the battery on the left side facing forward. Also check the main fuse that's in a rectangular holder, and I believe it's stuck at the front of the battery.

For some reason I thought the starter solenoid was mounted on the starter. So where does the wire from the solenoid connect to the starter?

 

The main fuse appears to be good. I can start the engine more often than not but when it won't start it's because there doesn't appear to be enough power to kick the engine over fast enough, very similar to a half dead battery and almost like the hot start problem except that it's not hot.

[cowpuc]

The only wire that connects to the starter comes directly from the solenoid..

[cowpuc]

So what could be happening is the high amp contacts inside the solenoid are cruded up.. This can cause a high resistance to current flow which will show up in a low amp supply hitting the starter.. The way it all works is there is the large +12dcv cable that connects to the battery goes to one side of those contacts in the solenoid. Then there is another high amp large cable that goes to the starter located on the other side of those contacts so when the contacts are made (or come together) the starter is hit with +12dcv high amps.. The solenoid also has small leads going to it which carry low amp +12dcv coming from the starter button on the right side of your bars = when the start button contacts are made (or come together) a coil within the solenoid is hit with low amp +12dcv which pulls the contacts together that allow the high voltage to flow to the starter..

You can test the solenoid by bypassing it and just hitting the high amp cable with +12 directly from the battery and that should roll the starter with full effeciency if you have a good battery and if you have a good connection at the battery..

Another thing often overlooked on our Ventures has to do with starter amature contamination.. I know many folks have gone to larger cables to overcome what appears to be a lack of amperage available and have done so successfully but I have found on more than one occasion that just cleaning up the original starter (get that dust out from between the grooves on the stator and communtator) and checking bearings that its not uncommon for the original 83 starters with OEM cables to return to as new umphhh... Only stating that because it is possible that the problem you are experiencing could actually be starter problems..

*****

Its also possible that its a ground issue too.. It never hurts when testing devices to run an extra ground wire directly to the device to insure your not over looking a simple ground issue.. A long time ago when I was a kid in High School my Electronics teacher showed the class how to use a test light in series with the ground circuitry to identify a bad ground = seems like if the ground was bad,, the light would light up or something like that.. I now wish I would have listened a little closer in High School cause some of that stuff we were taught would have come in real handy when dealing with stuff like this Cammy...

[7 lakes]

Cold is hard on electrical stuff, everything shrinks and any iffy connections get worse. Then ya get them hot and when they cool they're worse still. I agree with Puc that checking cleanliness of connections and grounds is the way to go. Man, that sucks, sorry you have to deal with that.

 

Tim

[camos]

The only wire that connects to the starter comes directly from the solenoid..

I kinda figured that part out from the pix I've seen of the starter. Problem is, except for down in the front, I don't know where the starter is. I was trying to find it today but was so cold I couldn't really concentrate. Hopefully I will have better luck tomorrow finding both ends of the positive link.

[cowpuc]

I kinda figured that part out from the pix I've seen of the starter. Problem is, except for down in the front, I don't know where the starter is. I was trying to find it today but was so cold I couldn't really concentrate. Hopefully I will have better luck tomorrow finding both ends of the positive link.

 

Just for you brother,,, hope it helps!!

 

[camos]

Just for you brother,,, hope it helps!!

Awesome Puc, I see both of them. I was laying on the right side of the bike with my head stuck between the wheel and the engine and could not see that starter connector. It must have been hidden by the coolant drain. Should have checked from the other side of the bike but was too cold to think straight. I'll be getting at them tomorrow.

 

Your video was perfect and a valiant effort to boot. Thanks a bunch.