Electrics issue: Could be starter motor?

[mattoneill]

Hello all,

BIKE: 1995 Honda Africa Twin XRV 750.

Bit of an odd one this.

Two days ago, I tried using the electric starter. As soon as I did, all the ignition lights went out. All power seemed to be down.

Whilst pushing it back to a place to store, I noticed the ignition lights came back on. Again, I tried the electric start. Exactly the same thing happened.

Kept pushing for a while, then the lights came back on. This time I decided to bump start. All ran fine.

Since then, any time I push the electric starter, it knocks out all the power.

Since then, I've:

- Checked all fuses
- Checked battery power (and that it's charging when the motor is running)
- Checked all exposed contacts
- 'Jiggled' all wiring that goes into any socket.

None of this affected the ignition lights.

I spoke to a friend. He thought it could be something to do with the brushes in the starter motor? Has anyone experienced this problem before?

Any ideas welcome!!

Thank you for reading.

Matt

[frnas]

A friend off mine had this problem, coming from a lose terminal on the battery. May worth cheking.

[*Touring Ted*]

loose brushes on the starter would not caus complete lighting failure.

Sounds like a bad battery or bad connection as suggested.

The starter motor sucks ALLOT of amps and if your battery isnt holding its charge then a couple of turns on the starter will flatten it completly.

As the bike runs fine when bumped (and asuming lights do too when shes running) , then i think the battery is goosed !!

Try a new one !

[JonStobbs]

First places to look are as mentioned the battery terminals and also the other end of each main lead where they are bolted onto the frame and starter solenoid.If all is well there,connect a volt meter across the battery terminals and check voltage.Now with the meter still connected,try pressing the starter switch and see if the voltage drops right away then.If it does then you've got a dud battery cell.It will show around 12 volts without load but as soon as you try to load it,the circuit goes open where there is a break or fracture inside the battery.Sounds pretty much as if this is the case as you say you've tried wiggling the wiring without any improvement so would doubt a loose connection.

[*Touring Ted*]

Originally Posted by JonStobbs

First places to look are as mentioned the battery terminals and also the other end of each main lead where they are bolted onto the frame and starter solenoid.If all is well there,connect a volt meter across the battery terminals and check voltage.Now with the meter still connected,try pressing the starter switch and see if the voltage drops right away then.If it does then you've got a dud battery cell.It will show around 12 volts without load but as soon as you try to load it,the circuit goes open where there is a break or fracture inside the battery.Sounds pretty much as if this is the case as you say you've tried wiggling the wiring without any improvement so would doubt a loose connection.

You want MORE than 12V. Any less and you probably have a dead cell. Idealy about 12.3 - 12.7 (ish)

But yer...as jon said ^^

[Bill Ryder]

hook your voltmeter to the actual battery terminals. Then try to start it and if the lights etc. go out see if the battery still has voltage. If it does you have a wiring or poor connection problem. I just fixed a bike that had a bad ignition switch that sometimes would stop conductiong when I pushed the starter button (i know the starter current doesn't go thru the ign switch).

[shandydrinker]

As has been mentioned, check the battery voltage, low voltage could be a dud battery or bike not charging.

Also check the starter solenoid/fuse area, these are prone to neglect, the solenoid rarely fails but corrosion can set into the contact areas, give a good clean up and cover with petroleum jelly or copperslip.

Phil

[mattoneill]

hi everyone,

thanks for posting those responses.

it turned out to be a corroded earth terminal... just sanded it down a bit, and all was fine...

after all that checking, it reminded me of the phrase, 'if you hear hooves, it's probably horses, not zebras'!

all best,

matt