Electric starter died? By rosiemoto (Read 555 times)

[rosiemoto]

I noticed the past few days doing the electric start was sounding more and more like battery was dying, and today it barely turned enough to start it. I opened up the bike and discovered my headlight wires were touching the metal connectors and had gotten melted everywhere, so I disconnected the headlights thinking that's what was draining my battery. Turns out my battery is actually full according to a charger. Horn works, lights all work when I reconnect them.

I went to start the bike to make sure it'll still work with the headlights disconnected. The starter gave a very weak sound then made a weird sound like it spun freely for a sec, and now all I get is a click from the solenoid. Jumping solenoid with screwdriver does nothing..no sparks flying, no response at all.

Does this mean my starter finally died? Or did having the headlights disconnected break something (thinking just coincidence)?

[trashtruck12172]

have the battery load tested. check all connections ( bat to gnd, bat to sol, sol to starter).

[jct842]

x2

[rosiemoto]

Does unplugging the whole headlight thing and leaving it that way do anything bad to the bike? I ask because that's when the starter died, but I'm thinking it was probably coincidence. I've just got the plastic plug hanging into the headlight cover now.

The picture below is why I want to leave it unplugged for now...it was a mess. I may be able to get the kickstarter attached and manually start the bike for now. IF having headlights disconnected isn't a problem?

[trashtruck12172]

I would think that unplugging the headlight would eliminate the extra battery drain during starting, allowing the starter to actually have more power to start.

[rosiemoto]

Yeah the starter doesn't even make any sound at all, I feel like it's jammed (or more like not responding to power because it's not humming either). Just the solenoid goes CLICK at each press of the starter button. I tried tapping the starter with a hammer a few times, didn't work, but maybe I have to tap it while the button is being pushed?

[jct842]

A solenoid can fail and still make a click. What you do to test it is to jump the big battery terminal to the one that has the thick wire going to the starter. Nothing has to be turned on and if when jumping it the starter turns over the engine the solenoid is bad. What happens there is the contacts in side get burned and corroded away and yet it still clicks.

[rosiemoto]

Jct, I didn't understand the instructions for jumping..which one is the big terminal? The only jumping I've done was the 2 solenoid poles so I'm new to that. Anyway I've got a small update. Sometimes when I press the starter button it makes a high pitched whine.

[trashtruck12172]

jump the 2 large terminals on the solenoid. if starter operates, solenoid may be at fault. if nothing happens, starter may be at fault. it does sound like the starter may need to get cleaned or rebuilt

[cyborg]

Usually when you hit the button and you hear whining or whiring this is a sign that the starter motor is spinning but the starter clutch is not doing its job,,,time to pull the belt cover again to see what's going on

[rosiemoto]

The whining was like an electrical whine. Like as if the starter is receiving power but isn't able to turn. It's not the starter motor spinning. It happens rarely, maybe every 20 presses. So it's usually one CLICK or rarely that electrical whine which lasts until I let go of the button.

[rosiemoto]

Jul 17, 2016 7:25:27 GMT -6 trashtruck12172 said:

jump the 2 large terminals on the solenoid. if starter operates, solenoid may be at fault. if nothing happens, starter may be at fault. it does sound like the starter may need to get cleaned or rebuilt

I bolded the part that happens. I found a thread of someone with the same issue/symptoms and it ended up being their starter.

I received a new electric starter and will put it in tomorrow. I now 80% believe the starter motor gave out... been wondering about that thing for over a year now. I took the starter off the bike and can manually turn the starter's gear by hand without issue, so it's not jammed, so I think it's just not reacting to the power fed to it.


Is it required to put motor/gear oil on the new starter before installing??


I don't have a multimeter or anyone around that has one. I want to get one and start learning how to use them for next time. Is this one from Harbor Freight good enough for all kinds of testing on the scooter? www.harborfreight.com/7-function-digital-multimeter-69096.html 

[jct842]

That link did not come up but harbor has one that sells for around 5-7 bucks and quite often the give them away with another purchase that is fine. I have maybe 3 or 4 of them laying around and have given a couple away that I got for free.

One check you could make with a cheap meter is to put both probes across the battery to measure the 12.6 volts that should be there and hit the start button. If that voltage goes away or way low either battery is bad or starter shorted. with your starter out you could apply 12v to it, + to the terminal and - to the case body. It should spin like crazy. Because your battery could be weak try it on another known good one.

Batteries can go bad and yet a charger can say good and it measure 12.6 volts. A load test at a auto parts store or even wally world can spot a bad battery easy.

[rosiemoto]

Just wanted to update anyone curious - the new starter fixed it! I'm back on the road again. And wow I haven't heard my bike spin up the starter this good since it was new. It always sounded like I had a half dead battery before when starting up..and all along it was just the starter.

What's interesting is, my old starter allows spinning in BOTH directions. The new starter will only spin forward. I noticed this when spinning the variator fan by hand, I couldn't turn it both directions anymore. My old starter also made "cute plastic gear" noises when I spun the variator... new one is pretty much silent. Just extra info for you all!