starter relay question

my clutch cable broke whenb i was riding about 3 weeks ago. trucked it home from the highway. put the new cable in today will not start. put the charger on the bat thinking its been siting a couple of weeks. lights horn all that work. when push the start buttton relay clicks. took the battery out of my quad same thing. tried to arc the relay and nothing, cant get it to arc. that seems odd to me. all the fuses seem ok took the realy out to make sure connection are fine it actualy looks as if has been replaced at some time pretty clean. i had no problems with the starter before although i had some safety switch issues, pretty sure thats not it since the relay will only click in netural and not in gear with stand down, tried to bump start it but since the carbs are pretty dry after siting so long did not have much succes with that. any ideas would be great

 

used jump wire from the pig tail red to positive blue to ground started did not turn just the same clicking in the relay still dont know why i cant arc the relay with a screw driver. will check the groung wire to the starter tomorrow. found a good forum HOW TO: Test your starter circuit

i realy dont think its the starter since i never had any problems including the day the cluctch cable broke. but will go through the paces. if i take the starter out ( which i have never done on a bike, should be the same as a car?) i should be able to bench test it, if it spins it works right?

 

just because a starter spins don't mean it's good. it takes a LOT more amps to crank the motor over then it does to freespin.

if it tries to jump and spins fast it's probably good. if it don't jump and takes a couple seconds to get to speed. it's probably wearing down.

you can also try a hammer on the starter when pushing the start button. sometimes that gets it to work. and that would be a sure sign the starter motor is wearing down. just don't beat so hard you break something.

 

You don't need to take the starter out to test it, put 12v to the starter side of the relay & the - jump lead to ground.

 

pulled the starter out and bench tested with car bat. nothing. guesse its toast. i think its kind of funny that it just go's completly out of nowhere.

what about not being to jump off the realy no spark or anything when jumped with a screwdriver. i have done this with cars before and gotten at least a spark . would the started being garbage not even give a spark at the relay?

any one have a starter.

 

sorry for some of the typo's . my 3 yr old pulled all the keys of the lap top put them back in but just not the same since.

 

Might just be the brushes, or a wire come adrift.

 

ive ckecked everything i know how. going to take the starter to friend see if im doing something wrong.

I really am doing my best to convince myself that its not the starter.

we only have a few days left here before snow and realy would like to get a ride in.

going to have some guys come over and see if i can bump start it again.

I have never done the brushes on a starter before. is it difficult to do. sounds cheaper than finding a starter if that turns out to be the problem in the end.

 

Hitting the starter with a hammer isn't always a good idea. Some starters have fixed magnets in them. Can't tell you how many starters came my way that were beat to hell, after opening them and turning them over you just watch all the parts fall out in a million pieces. 8O

 

Could also be a bad bar on the armature's commentator. The bars should have continuity with each other so if one doesn't have continuity it is open, not allowing the armature to spin. Also bars should not have continuity with the shaft. Probably more info than you wanted but hope it helps. :wink:

 

took the starter apart, saw a few post that some people had the same problem as me did not do anything to it , looked good put it back in to see what would happen, had the bat on the trickel charge over night after toping of with some water. got a 1/2 turn. jumped it with the van,started. drove it for about a 1/2 hour parked it would not turn over again. was able to bump start it this time. took it out on the highway for another 1/2 hour parked it would not turn over again. the bat is new this summer but putting it on the charger does not seem to do anything.

at least it was not the starter. funny that bench testing with car bat did nothing. was doing it the proper way.

well i know it will start at least.

 

The battery could be bad, even when new, charge it up & take it & get it tested.

 

I had what sounds like the same problem with my new (old) XJ. I took the starter out and hooked it to a car battery and it didn;t spin. I was getting prepared to pull it apart and rebuild it when I read something on here about cleaning the electrics inside it. Here's what I did:
1. Starter off bike
2. Remove the nuts off the terminal post.
3. There should be a little rubber/plastic washer in there - remove it.
4. Spray WD-40 (its all I had - electrical cleaner is probly better) into the tiny hole that is there while you manually spin the starter.
5. Tested on car battery again and it went nuts!
6. Starter back on bike.

Problem solved - for now. I know that I'm going to need to rebuild it or clean it out properly one day but I've only just got the bike so I just want to get it started for now.

Here's the funny thing - The PO told me that it doens;t start and he thought that it was becasue the battery wasn;t charging. I'm pretty sure that I've now fixed the problem!

 

Spraying liquids into a enclosed starter isn't a good idea.
1.It can wash metal filings into the windings causing a short or cause bearing/bushing failure.
2.Most cleaners are flamable and fumes will build up in a enclosed starter: hit the juice and get a grenade.