| Author | Message | ||
     Passthegravy |
My 2000 S3 won't start. When I turn the ignition on and press the starter button, the ignition relay at the right rear of the bike (by the ECM) just clicks. The starter does not engage. The factory service manual says that if the relay clicks, you should "Test for Voltage at Solenoid Terminal" to see if 12V is present when starter button is pressed. It does not say how to do this. I have a digital multimeter, but I'm an electrical idiot and don't want to fry something on the bike. Can someone give me some info on where to connect the multimeter leads to do this? I assume I'd connect the negative one to the negative battery terminal and the positive to the terminal on the solenoid where the cable from the positive terminal of the battery connects to it. Is that correct? Any help would be appreciated. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Before you go mental, go to your fusebox and unplug the black relays that live in there. Mine were corroded and made my solenoid go clickclickclickclick. I zapped mine with WD40 and cleaned the contacts and it has worked since. | ||
| Iamike |
All you have to do is clip (or hold) the black probe of the meter to a good ground. One of the case bolts will work or the negative side of the battery. Touch or clip the red lead of the meter to the other end of the big lead from the positive side of the battery. It is under a rubber boot. There should be 12+ volts DC before you try to start the bike. It will drop to around 10-11 when trying to start it. Some of the other problems people have is: Dirty battery terminals, coroded terminal at the starter, nearly broken positive (or negative) leads causing too much voltage drop to start the bike, poor ground connection at the frame. Charge your battery up first to see if that is the problem. Then once the bike starts check to make sure you have 13.5-14 volts at the battery when the rpms are over 2,000. A lot of guys buy a new battery when that isn't the problem. | ||
| 99x1 |
" The starter does not engage. " From the relay, the solenoid wire goes to a push-on terminal on the right lower side of the starter - it can become loose or fall off. The ignition and start relays are identical and can be swapped in the fuse panel. As mentioned, with the black meter lead on ground, and the red meter lead on the terminal wire that was on the starter, you should see ~12 volts when you press the start button. Because the relay is pulling in, all the interlocks (neutral, clutch, sidestand) are OK. If you feel comfortable doing it, pull the wire off the solenoid, and touch a jumper wire from the battery positive to the terminal on the solenoid (where you pulled the wire off) - the solenoid should pull in and the starter turn (with the key off). Good Luck! (Message edited by 99X1 on May 29, 2006) | ||
| Denfromphilly |
Like Nate said, my black diodes in the fusebox got corroded and I had the same problem. It was a bear to find and simple to fix, I didn't even think it was a problem but anally scraped off the crud, plugged it in and it worked. I used the flow chart in my service manual to troubleshoot and it said to check the diode. I did, it worked, I scraped it off, plugged it back in (careful they are polarized) and it worked. | ||
| Bluelightning |
Like Nate said, my black diodes in the fusebox got corroded and I had the same problem. It has happened to me on more than 1 occasion. To be sure thats the problem, make sure you have a fully charged battery, then while trying to start, wiggle those diodes in their socket. If it starts that is your problem. If the same happens, how old is your battery? The stock battery is know to go bad rather suddenly and make your bike look like it has a bad starter. Fooled me into believing my starter was bad, so I replaced it and still ended up having to change the battery! If it is the diodes, pull them and clean with a good electrical contact cleaner then add a little dab of dielectric grease to the connections prior to putting them back in. Cagers on cells deserve a good throttle rev!!! | ||
| Stingaroo |
Diodes were the problem on my M-2 as well. We took a multimeter to see if we had current going both ways, found one to be bad. Diodes are like a gate, they are supposed to only allow current to go one way. Blue is right too, I clean them about every other oil change just to make sure they have good contact. Brian. |
