Is my starter going?

[mfp4073]

Here is one that I have not really seen before in my years of working on stuff.

When I hit the starter, it will turn over for a few, then click the solenoid fast, then turn over some more. Battery is less than a year old, but IS having some issues (not holding full charge). Showing about 80% after sitting overnight. Earlier today I rode 20 miles, then parked it for an hour and had it do it. I cleaned the terminals really good, but did not take the starter out tot clean the cables at the starter side yet.

Sound familiar to anyone?

[Bill Harris]

The battery may be going. Check the cranking voltage-- if it's less than 8V, it's the battery. The standing voltage should be 12.4V or higher and it should charge at 13.8-14V. At <1year old, the warranty should be good.

Starter? Probably a good time to remove it and do a service on it. Clean and lube, check brushes, replace the front shaft bushing. A lot of miles/years, then refurb the solenoid.

[wirewrkr]

Check all your battery connections carefully. also check the main pos cable for corrosion under the skin.
If all that is okay, sounds like a battery to me too. If you need new cables let me know.

[mfp4073]

Originally Posted by wirewrkr

Check all your battery connections carefully. also check the main pos cable for corrosion under the skin.
If all that is okay, sounds like a battery to me too. If you need new cables let me know.

Good idea. I didnt think to inspect the wires themselves. Will take a closer look. Thanks!! Out of curiosity, what would a pair of pos/neg cost?

[wirewrkr]

Originally Posted by mfp4073

Good idea. I didnt think to inspect the wires themselves. Will take a closer look. Thanks!! Out of curiosity, what would a pair of pos/neg cost?

If this is for the /6, $45.00 delivered.

[mfp4073]

Update, and a few questions.

The battery did seem to have a failure. No warranty on my $100 agm battery from autozone that was less than a year old. Ended up buying a cycle gear standard battery with a lifetime warranty....I dont get that one, but hey, I will abuse it to the best of my ability.

I replaced the battery, but am still getting the "turn over turn over turn over, click click click click, turn over turn over turn over, click click click" thing. Today I got the bike apart and dont see any corrosion on the battery cables and didnt come up with any crazy resistance numbers. All connections are/were tight. Am kinda looking at the solenoid as the problem. Will do a clean up of all the cables and reassembly as part of my testing before I look at replacing the starter/solenoid (probably try to find a used one).

Of course I came across snowbums site http://www.bmwmotorcycletech.info/boschvaleostarter.htm

good info, but dont see anything on how to bench test my starter. I dont want to make my situation worse. Anyone know where I should be putting power to test? Pos to pos, neg to housing, and then just pos to the other lead?

[rufusswan]

The starter motor is grounded when bolted to the motor case. So clip a wire to your battery neg on the bench and hot to the post and the motor will spin. That part of the starter is pretty brain dead. Take apart the solenoid and clean up all the connections inside as they can get dirty and built up with carbon. Clean and lub appropriate parts and bench test the unit as a whole.

Then you can decide if/what needs replacing.

[mfp4073]

Originally Posted by rufusswan

The starter motor is grounded when bolted to the motor case. So clip a wire to your battery neg on the bench and hot to the post and the motor will spin. That part of the starter is pretty brain dead. Take apart the solenoid and clean up all the connections inside as they can get dirty and built up with carbon. Clean and lub appropriate parts and bench test the unit as a whole.

Then you can decide if/what needs replacing.

Sounds good. Snowbum made it sound like taking apart the solenoid was hard? Maybe I need to reread. What is the other spade lead on the solenoid do?

[crazydrummerdude]

Definitely sounds like a battery problem, but since you replaced it you should check the "snugness" of the wires at the starter. Also, take the top cover off and look at the starter while you hit the button. It might be sparking there as a sign of a loose connection. It's happened to me.

[Horsehockey]

Remove your tank, remove the starter relay, clean the terminals with particular attention to the two fat red wires, plug it back in and remove it again. Test.

[rufusswan]

From memory I can't be sure, but if there are two leads then one is Heavy Duty and the other is just activates the solenoid. The solenoid then connects the large lead when activated.

It ain't hard to open up the solenoid if I can do it

[mfp4073]

Originally Posted by crazydrummerdude

Definitely sounds like a battery problem, but since you replaced it you should check the "snugness" of the wires at the starter. Also, take the top cover off and look at the starter while you hit the button. It might be sparking there as a sign of a loose connection. It's happened to me.

Starter is out in my hand currently. I was hoping for a loose wire at the solenoid, but it was rock tight. Will be cleaning all the connections before reassembly, and wont be replacing anything until further testing. Hoping something as simple as cleaning will fix the problem.

[disston]

After cleaning when you put it all back together put a little grease on the bush bearings in the two ends.

If the brushes are too short you will have to rebuild the starter.

[mfp4073]

Well not sure whats going on.

either

A, not understanding where the pos and neg go
B. not getting a good ground
C. started has completely died since taking it off the bike
D. I screwed it up somehow

put neg to the case and pos to the pos lead that the battery goes to and nothing. The more I think about it, wouldnt I need to put 12v to the solenoid spade lead too?

[crazydrummerdude]

Yeah, I remember having to use a screwdriver to jump across a couple terminals to get it to kick over. I just don't want to say the wrong terminals, but it should be fairly easy to figure out.