550 Seca starting problems

Hi all -

I have an 81 550 Seca that I resurrected from a shed in Warren, PA. I have successfully gotten this thing to start, run and I've ridden it. Since it's gone back together, I have had 3 consistent problems.

1) This bike is always hard to start. Regardless where I have the petcock or enrichment circuit lever, if it sits for a couple days, it always needs starting fluid to start. This problem has escalated to ALWAYS needing a shoot of starting fluid, even if it was just running. I suspect debris in the tank, or a faulty petcock. I have a petcock rebuild kit and will check the tank when I rebuild the petcock.

2) The starter always turns slowly, regardless of the charge state of the battery. I can ride the bike, stop for coffee, come back out and the starter still turns slowly. I can take the battery directly off the charger and it spins the starter slowly. I can install a new battery and it spins the starter slowly. Could be a ground, could be a starter. Don't know where to look for a ground, don't recall the starter turning slowly early in the process when I had to short across the solenoid terminals to spin the starter

3) Very recently, I was running the bike when suddenly all I could get out of the starting system was a single click when I press the starter button. Solenoid is new from Rick's, battery was on the charger.

Thoughts?

 

The starter motor might need rebuilt but a clicking solenoid sounds more like voltage drop somewhere in the starter circuit. Have you replaced the Yamaha fusebox with a blade type one, the original ones cause electrical problems.

Have you cleaned the jets in the bottom of the float bowls assuming they are the same as the larger capacity bikes.

https://xjbikes.com/forums/threads/how-to-clean-the-enrichment-circuit-well.8918/

 

Make sure all connections are clean too - especially between battery, relay, and starter.

 

On the harness side the connector that goes to the starter solenoid you can connect a multimeter set to volts and with the ignition on press the starter button and let us know what voltage you are getting. You can also connect the battery direct to the starter to bypass the starting circuit to see if the starter spins fast or slow, use jump leads.

 

Hi Franz -

I replaced the fuse box with a new glass fuse holder box (I wanted to preserve originality), so the fuse block, while it's not blade fuses, it is still brand new.

Carbs were gone through by Dave Fox at the CNYCC '21 this past June. So, I am convinced that the carbs are clean.

 

Hi Dan -

Thanks, I will give everything a good cleaning.

 

Hi Franz -

I'll give that a shot and report back.

 

I just rebuilt the starter on my 1982 Seca 550 using the Amazon rebuild kit ($20.91). My starter was oily inside but the brushes were within specs. My Clymer manual shows that the brushes must be more than .20 of an inch. Mine were .30" but I replaced them anyway with the new ones from Amazon that were .50" -Before rebuilding, I bench tested the starter and it turned slowly but it was enough to start the bike. After rebuilding, the starter turned very fast, 3 to 4 times faster. The bike started in a second or two compared to more than five seconds previously. I also chucked the shaft of the commutator into my drill and lightly sanded (with fine sand paper) the mica until it was nice and shiny.
I used to get the "click" form the starter solenoid with no starter action before the rebuild. I would have 12+ volts at the starter with no movement. I still have an occasional mysterious one second delay between pressing the start button and hearing the starter motor engage. Still working on that.
As far as having to use starter fluid every time, I cleaned my carbs a few months ago but wasn't too sure what I was doing. It helped some. I recently removed and cleaned them again with a little bit better knowledge of what to do and it made all the difference. My baby purrs like a kitten now. IMHO it sounds like something was overlooked or you had debris in your tank and the carbs were immediately reclogged.

 

your ground for the seca and maxim 550 runs from battery to motor and at the motor connection a smaller wire runs back up to a screw that is in the bottom of the battery box that end connects to the frame.
the starter is grounded through the motor to the battery
clean battery connections and cable ends on solinoid as well as the ground end on the motor.
if starter still spins slowly you need to rebuild the starter.
the 550 starter should still crank fast even when the battery is droping below 10 volts.
do a voltage drop test . meter on battery record voltage and then press starter button see what voltage drops to
sitting voltage of a charged battery should be 12.8 volts after sitting over night after being charged.

 

fuel in the 550 carbs likes to evaporate when the bike sits. hit prime for 5 to 10 seconds to fill carbs.
I use a section of clear or translucent hose so i can to check if i have fuel in the line
also check to see if your drain screws or float bowls leak colored construction paper slipped under the bowls will show fuel leak

 

Ok, here is the resolution. Turns out the starter and solenoid were both bad. Replaced both, then found the 2-3 coil was bad. Replaced the coil and things seem to be pretty good!


Thanks, all for the suggestions.