Starter question

1985 XJ700n Simple question. If the starter button fails, can the bike be started by attaching a wire to the starter and touching the positive side of the battery? I know it works on a car, but I seem to remember some post stating that the starter button was hooked to the negative side.

 

Yes l think so.

 

You can jump the battery positive terminal to the positive post on the starter(or just jump the two large terminals on the solenoid) with a heavy wire to start it. Alternatively (and easier) you can ground the smaller ground terminal on the starter solenoid to start the bike as this will make the connection to the starter from the battery. This assumes the solenoid is in working order.

The starter button along with the safety circuit "supplies" ground to the solenoid to trigger that and make the connection, so yes the starter button is connected to ground.

Either way, make darn sure its in neutral cause its gonna move!