Dodgy Starter Motor?

[Deanus]

Hey there...

Been riding my 1100GS to work almost everyday for the last year now.

This morning I went out and went to start it up as normal, and all I got was a louded clicking noise and it wouldn't start. Am I right in thinking its the starter solenoid not kicking in or something more sinister.

It happened about 4 months ago... same thing... I bump started it down the hill I live on and went on my way.. nothing else ever happened.

Now its doing it permanently.

Any Ideas? At work now from bumping it, so will have to get the work collegues to give us a push

Cheers

Dean

 

[turbine_2]

Could be a dying / dead battery.

 

[vilguy]

could easily be a buggered battery. Replace it and job done.
My rt had this the other day, the battery was just destroyed. Tried charging it up with my posh charger but just kept jumping to 15volts meaning the plates had warped and it was useless.

You could run a tester over the battery terminals and that will tell you alot.

paul

 

[vilguy]

i think we were writing that at exactly the same time matey! haha

 

[Deanus]

Hmmm battery is only 10 months old

 

[motobiker]

I would still check it out... its not unheard of for a new battery (ok newish) to be faulty.

 

[harry]

Check all your Battery connections esp the earth both ends.

 

[Deanus]

just checked the connections and the -ve is all coked up with white chalky substance... but would that really effect it.. I assume the connection is still ok..

I'll test the battery when I get home me thinks

Cheers

Dean

 

[D6]

batterys lasting under a year are a regular thing now, the sealed ones being the worst,
charging causes problems too, sealed batterys need a different charger to normal "wet" batterys

 

[vilguy]

What sort of battery is it? a cheapy wet or a slightly more expensive dry cell?

Both will be worked hard anyway from the gs, being a large twin. The chalky white substance will be on the cathode, this is normal but its good practice to remove it and protect further corrosion using dialetric grease (it allows conduction of electrikery)

When you test it, be careful, a battery can indicate its fine but a buggered battery will react very differently under any kind of load.

You could just leave it and next time it does it, whack some jump leads on from your car etc, if it starts then you know its the battery, if it doesnt, move onto something else, like the starter solenoid.

 

[davegs]

Battery

If you've got that white crap around the term this is probably the problem, clean it all off and coat it with vasaline when you re-assemble it. If not new battery wtd.

 

[MikeP]

Concentrate on the starter motor.

 

[Steptoe]

Concentrate on the starter motor.

What as in " you've spilt some concentrate on the starter motor"

 

[vilguy]

Id be more interested in the simplest things first, like the battery and solenoid before you start buggering about with the starter motor.

battery, starter relay, wiring, starter motor is the order i would check.

The white crap will only cause a problem if its stuck 'between' the battery terminal and the wiring strap itself, it tends not to get there, but if it is clean it off.

Just thinking about it.. a very simple one to check is that the battery terminal is tight? Give it a check! ive had a bike buggering around because of that before.

And vaseline is an insulator so your aware

 

[MikeP]

What as in " you've spilt some concentrate on the starter motor"

That's the one!

It's probably made the piss-poor glue that holds the magnets in place disintegrate, or the grease retaining plate to come loose and prevent the rotor turning.

(BTW, they work okay without the plate).

 

[MikeP]

Id be more interested in the simplest things first, like the battery and solenoid before you start buggering about with the starter motor.

The battery appears to be 11 months old, the solenoid is on the starter anyway and it's actually easier to get the starter off than getting at the battery.

The starter is a known problem.

It gives the same symptoms as a duff battery.

The magnets come off he casing and stop the rotor turning. Sometimes they do so a bit at a time giving the symptoms of a battery on its last legs.

The black lump is the remains of three of the four magnets, only one was still attached to the casing.

They should be like this......

except that in this case the grease retaining plate over the gears has come free and the shiny area of the windings is where it the rotor has ground away the winding before it jammed solid.

The retaining plate was burnt through.....

My mates 1100 is on its third starter, my nephew's 1150 is on its second (after less than 10K miles). In each of these cases, the symptoms were exactly like a duff battery.

 

[vilguy]

Its just that its easy to connect a jump lead onto the battery or a reasonably intelligent charger preferably.

Shame your so far away deanus or you could have borrowed my kit.

 

[t'other dave]

It's happened twice to me, first time I replaced the battery and it still didn't go, so checked the wires and found the feed to the starter was loose and crappy, no need for battery should have checked first. Second it was the starter as above the magnets had come loose. New starter from a motor factors £90 job done.

 

[Deanus]

Didn't get chance last night to look at it... went for a curry

I'll check and clean it up tonight.

Is the starter really easier to get to... I had visions of it being tucked away somewhere stupid

 

[Steptoe]

Its just that its easy to connect a jump lead onto the battery .

.

it's a lot easier to connect a jump lead direct to the starter motor