Choke cable acting as ground, makes start button work??

Hello folks.
What a great forum going here.
This is what the internet was meant to be.

Anyway. New owner of 1982 XJ550R Seca w/ 14,000 and modified air box, last owner put on four air pods and ditched the OEM air box.

He was honest about it not starting without priming with starter.

Now here is the funny symptom.
Battery freshly charged...
Key on in neutral...
Hit the starter button and nothing happens, I mean nothing.
Checked and no voltage getting to the starter motor.

Then you play with the choke swinging it back and forth, and certain windows of choke setting will let the relay close in and the starter motor go.

Now the bike doesn't actually start, it just spins and spins until I lose relay connection again. But that's another issue, because PO never touched the carbs, so the idle is probably the wrong jet size now and its probably never been cleaned for a billion years.

Also when I checked the voltage with lead disconnected from starter motor, I got a healthy 11.7 volts (no current flowing though, so not sure about the resistance). When the motor is connected and I get the relay to close in the voltage is about 7.

So here are the questions oh yea wise ones:

What in the world could be making the choke effect the starter relay or circuit?

Is 7 volts from 12 a normal voltage drop for the starter motor load, or is that symptomatic of bad brushes, shorts etc., also contributing to weak starter effort?

And while I'm at it...

Does anyone have any clue about a first guess to increase the pilot jet size considering the mod that must have greatly increased air flow?

Thanks in advanced good sirs!!

 

Re: Voltage, batterys, starter motors, oh my...

Your enrichment port is most likely clogged. check this out http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=8918.html

Choke should have no effect on the relay - baffled by that.

Take your starter apart and clean the brush dust out - clean the commutator ring out - check your brush lengths (8.5mm is service limit). That could be the voltage issue.

In addition it sounds like your relay does not close every time? Might need to replace. You can recondition but it is a bit of a pain to get them apart.

edit to correct my terminology

 

Re: Voltage, batterys, starter motors, oh my...

Follow your choke cable carefully and inspect any wires laying against it.

Sounds like you have a bad wire and the choke cable is wiggling it for you.

 

Re: Voltage, batterys, starter motors, oh my...

You'll never believe this.

The choke setting changing whether or not the starter works...

Today I got around to focusing on that, and here is the resolution. Depending on how the choke cable sits, it acts as the ground for something.

I checked the voltage at the starter solenoid, and it has a good 12 V on it. The voltage doesn't drop all the time when the starter button is pressed. So I figured the button must be going bad, because that's all that's left to ground the solenoid.

This was thankfully in a dark garage. So in neutral, I hit the button, play with the choke like I always do, then I see the smallest spark between the choke cable and the cable stop, and the starter goes. So then I purposely press the cable firmly against the metal of the cable stop, and for the first time since I bought it - the starter motor turns every time.

So, what the heck is going on?

The starter button doesn't have a good ground, and somehow the choke cable ground the handlebar area better, and then I get the solenoid energized??

How in the world do I fix that?

 

Fix your harness ground, you've got a really bad situation going on there!

The starter pushbutton is NOT a ground for the solenoid! It's a +12V trigger for the relay portion of the starter "solenoid"............

 

Clean all your ground connections including your handlebar.

 

Don, how have you been? Long time no hear from...........

 

Livin' the dream, my friend! Livin' the dream. Life looks so much better when viewed over the handlebars!

 

There ya' go!