no progress yet. i've tested the battery again at advanced auto and they also said it was good. Report read voltage 12.64 and 224 cca. i hooked a 12 volt car battery directly to the starter and the starter didn't spin much. All i had on hand was old thin speaker wires to do the test. what gauge wires should i use to do this next time? i removed the ground and replaced it with a wire from the negative to the starter mounting bolt, no change. i took the relay apart, all the pins looked good, no corrosion on the pins. is there any electrical grease that would help. i did find two straps comming from the battery's positive terminal to the relay. Anyone know if this is factory, i'm guessing not so i took one of them off. the wire from the starter to the relay is missing its rubber protective boot on the relay side. My guess is the previous owner has looked into this issue and couldn't figure it out. All he told me was he replaced the starter. I found the original starter and took it to have it bench tested and it tested at 18 amps not under a load. He said they the norm is 20 amps. Is this correct. Would 18 amps still start the bike w/o problems I removed all the paint around the ground to make sure it was a good ground. Still no improvements. Other thoughts - tight valves (havent checked), wiring issue - maybe i'm dropping voltage somewhere, bad relay,??
shit, after messing around with it, checking wires and the relay, i hooked the tender up to let it charge. i went to start the bike and it engaged the starter but weakly, it died like it usually does. tried again, and now it wont even engage the starter just a click at the relay.
It does sound like either you have a short somewhere in the wiring or maybe in the starter itself... If the PO had a problem and messed with the wires to fix it maybe it is now having the same issue... Maybe get in contact with him and ask a bit of the bikes history...
i just got it inspected but it failed because the brake light was not comming on. we found power all the way to the socket but had to run a jumper from outside the socket to inside the socket for the light to come on. thats the only wiring problem that i could think of. actually i had an intermitten starting problem from the estart switch itself, but that was fixed when i took the switch completly apart and cleaned the contacts. maybe i will take the new starter out and have it bench tested. could put the original back in gunner- do you think it could be a bad battery, maybe several different issues together. i did get 12.4 volts to the starter
What a pisser. I would remove the starter and hook it up to your existing wiring. Put a piece of 2X4 where the starter sits...hold the starter in your hands and when it is spinning put the starter nose down on the wood. Does it have cranking power? That's how my local electro mech guy quick tests starters for cranking power. Clamps them in a vice, hooks them up and gives them the lumber test. Crude but effective. I've done it myself to car starters, tells the tale quick. Crunch. bill
got up this morning, hoping all this was a bad dream, went to start the bike and "click". Click, click, click. FU. 20 minutes to kick it over and it fires up. Always easier to kick it over when it warm, always a PITA to kick over when cold. Went for a hr ride or so. Got home and cut the bike off and tried to estart it and got another click. I put pliers on the starter relay and got the starter motor to turn over for half a second and removed the pliers. I tried it to put the pliers on it again and nothing. Why would the pliers only engage the starter once? Heres a stupid question, could i have hooked up the starter relay backwards? I found a pic of another 625 starter relay and hooked it up according to the pic. Thanks for all the help. I'll get it figured out sooner or later.
so i rode again, took it to a battery shop, put a new one in and the got the same starter click. next i took it over to a bike mech. who used to sell ktms. he wasnt doing much and agreed to take a quick look. he hooked up a battery booster to it which also resulted in just a click. he suggested actually looking at all the connections and see if any soder or wire connections have come loose. who would test a relay to see if its the problem? i don't mind ordering a new one but dont want to replace everything to find out it was bad connection somewhere. i pretty sure i ruled out the battery. the previous owner replaced the starter, so i'm guessing that not it either - will try bench testing the starter. when i pull the decompression lever in, use the kicker and push the estarter, sometimes the starter will engage but very weak and slow (only if i keep the decomp lever pulled and estart button pressed while using the kicker). could this be a resistance problem, meaning something is binding somewhere. still thinking wiring problem. is the cable from the starter to the relay one piece? also lost my liceance plate bracket with plate and blinkers today. luckily i lost in close to the house and found it, however it looks better with it off. i don't think the po po likes that though. this thing is a PITA to kick.
Do like Bill suggested and remove the starter for a bench test. Could be you need to rebuild the starter, but remove it first and bench test. That way you will eliminate the wiring. If the starter does not work.......it's the starter..........if it works..........look into the wiring/starter solenoid/ relays/fuses/ switches. Keep hunting.............you will find it. Cheers
Got a multimeter? If no but a cheap one and learn how to use it off youtube etc. While cranking:- 1. test voltage at battery terminals 2. test voltage neg on batt, pos on starter 3. test voltage pos on starter, neg on starter housing If you have differences in voltages you have a problem in the wiring, do not forget the earth. If all tests ok then check your starter, just because something is brand new doesnt mean its right.
voltage = 12.65 with ignition on, battery off the tender all night. voltage with estart and voltage drops down to 9.5 to 10 voltage with pos to positive batery terminal, negative to starter = voltage drops to 0 voltage positive on starter, negative on housing and the voltage jumps to 12.5 while cranking, it was 0 when not cranking. interesting thing is the starter engaged 1st try but very slow/weak. tried again and could get the the starter to engage again if i held the estart in but so weak, it sounded like a dying squealing animal. tried again and just a click. going to dig into the wiring again.
From the above, as long as my presumption on where you tested starter is correct, the wiring, relays etc tests out ok. I would double check the earth strap going to the frame on the left hand side of the airbox and bench test starter as per Bills suggestion.
it starts, it starts i'll still kick it every once in a while. rechecked all wires again, pulled the wire from the starter to the relay, checked all connections - all seemed good. pulled the starter and bench tested it again and nothing. couldn't get it to do anything. pulled it apart and the inside was toast. small bearing fell out and one of the copper contacts (?) was busted out. one of the carbon brushes (?) was completly wore down and not sure it was making contact with the copper. I'll have it rebuilt, the guy said he would rebuild it for 80$ or so. i pulled it apart a week ago, and there was no obivious damage, something must have gave way. i put the original starter in (this one was bench tested and tested at 18 amps w/o a load). started right up. however, when the bike is at top dead center, i get that click again. if i move it past tdc and estart it, starts w/o hesitation. how long will a starter last at 18 amps. what is the ground on the right hand side? i sanded all the pain off that side as well. there is still two leads from the positive terminal to the relay and i'm not sure why. should i remove it? what the best method to start this bike and keep the strain off everything. Assist the estarter with the kicker, estarter alone, kick it only? i also fabed up another license plate bracket. however the blinkers ripped off with the brackets so i have to fix the wires and blinkers.
I thought you checked the inside of the starter long ago? It was mentioned to do so in post #2 way back when you started this thread.. It seems like you have been going in circles for 3 pages, but at least you figured it out...
gunner, thanks for all you help and suggestions. i agree with you 100%, i was going in circles and i learned alot about the 625 starting system. i did pull the starter out, take it apart, take it to a bike mech and put it back on. i also said i wan't sure what i was looking for. i din't see any obvious damage (now there is obvious damage). the bike mech was closing and told me to do what you guys said, jump it and see what happens but he never actually looked at it. i assumed because i did not see any obvious issues and the prevoius owner replaced it and experienced the same problems as before he replaced it, i put it back together and thought the problem was elsewhere. this starter couldn't be that old. less than a year and has't been rode much before i bought it. there is alot of info out there with similar issues like mine and lots of different answers. and it was a little confusing to me because the symptoms changed or i guess progressed to just a starting click. again thanks to everyone, if your around central va - i'd buy you a beer. we live next door to a local brewery.
Sometimes you have to bump the piston past TDC with a double click of the starter button or pull the compression release to get it past. Glad you found it, we have all been there. Another tip, in the future if you get a dead battery you can jump off a car battery using your long test leads as jumper cables. No need to wear the rebuilt starter around your neck for a week.... bill
No one has brought up the infamous sprague clutch ... his story mirrors mine about 4 years ago ..perhaps that is why with every thing new it is still a hard starter..
