Hey guys, my starter button appears to be making a poor connection and as a result the battery voltage going up to it isn't the same after it by about 2 Volts. As a result the starter solenoid isn't getting enough electrical juice and I think its stopping the bike from having spark. I've had a look inside the switch gear and yep its pretty dirty and also hard to get to.

Just wanted your advice on if there is an easy/ clever way to get the switch gear housing off? oh, and does anyone know if the button for the lights will just pry out gently from its switch? That's above the starter and blocking the way to it.

The haynes manual and honda service manual don't mention any kind of knack to get to the starter button.

Thanks a load my friends you're great!

 

Not sure if there's an easy way to take the switch apart, but you might have some luck spraying electrical contact cleaner into the switch while rocking it back & forth with the ignition off. Sometimes that will clean it up enough to start functioning properly again.

Also, the start switch is only an input to the starter solenoid which is actually responsible for passing the high current to power the starter motor. It's possible you may have an issue with the solenoid or wiring from the battery to solenoid or solenoid to starter and not the switch itself, but need more information about where you're checking the voltages to be sure.

 

Hey tahoerider those are great ideas, I haven't yet checked the connections and voltages to the starter motor. The starter motor turns over and is turning the crank. I don't have spark at any plug at present. Bike was running fine and then recently it wouldn't kick up. Am using a fully charged battery while I sus out whats wrong. Solenoid gets battery voltage to its big copper terminals but I found only 9 volts getting to the y/r connector. Have done a continuity test on solenoid as per honda service manual and when voltage was applied at the y/r and g/r terminals it clicked.

So i've been following the voltage from the solenoid and up to the ignition switches. If I get a good result from cleaning up the starter button and manage to get the battery voltage back down to the solenoid and am still having trouble I'll check out the stuff you told me about.

In addition after the bike failed I found dodgy wiring from the alternator to the r/r which won't have helped the bike spark when it was running. Ah well I'll just keep going at it!

Thank you for your reply buddy

 

I think I might have misunderstood your situation before.. you probably don't need to do any more with the solenoid or the wiring to the starter as it sounds like they're ok.

The 9v at the solenoid should probably be higher, but as long as the engine is turning over your lack of spark is a different problem.

Check page 18-2 in the service manual and go through the troubleshooting chart for no spark at all plugs. The starter solenoid is not in the same circuit as the ignition system.

 

Hey tahoerider, just read your last post. I was able to clean up the starter button contacts really well. Now I've got resistance of 0.03 ohms across it so good continuity and around 10.8 volts at the solenoid when i hit the starter button.I was expecting to see the same volts at the solenoid (12.5+V) when the starter is pressed as at the battery but, I now think it changes due to the draw on the battery from the starter motor. Bit of a dumb newbie error Sorry if this is confused!

Anyway, I'm going to check through the rest of the electric starter circuit i.e. solenoid, starter motor, pick up coils etc.

I guess I'll be asking for more advice real soon.

Thanks dude