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  #1  
Old 15 May 2013
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KLE not starting after warmed up.

Hi everyone,

Im not sure if anyone has ever had this fault before but I have had some trouble with it over the last few days. I ride my KLE to work everyday and in the last week it has started playing up.

Once I have been riding for 10-15 mins and the bike is warmed up. After switching off she wont start again. Until it has sat for about 5-10 mins. The starter relay clicks over but the starter motor will not turn over.

I haven't had a chance to take her apart yet but was hoping someone might have some pointers. I don't think it is battery related because all lights come on and when she does turn over the crack is strong. However I am not ruling the battery out. My first thought was a broken wire/loose connection but I haven't been able to reproduce the fault any other way than to ride and switch off. Then try to start again...it is very inconsistent. Which does scream bad connection. That will be my first action. checking all connections.

It would be great to hear from anyone who has had a similar problem. Just hoping its not the starter motor itself.

I will post what I find. Thanks for any help in advance.

Leon
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  #2  
Old 15 May 2013
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Looks temperature related.

When the engine is warm you have the fault. Try cooling the starter motor with a few litres of water when the fault is evident, if the fault goes away then it is in the starter motor. Simply empty a bottle of water over the starter motor. Wait a few seconds for the temperature to fall.

Good Luck.
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  #3  
Old 15 May 2013
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yeah? pour a bottle of water on the starter motor? I dunno about that...

I will have a think about that.

Thanks Warin

Leon
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  #4  
Old 15 May 2013
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Location: Windsor [near enough] NSW Aus.
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Well fairly much all of the external components on a motorcycle are waterproof, so pouring water on it theoretically shouldn't be an issue.

But I'm thinking it may be some form of electronic component getting hot, like the CDI unit maybe?
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  #5  
Old 15 May 2013
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Check the reg/rec output. My kle had simmilar problems when my reg/rec failed.
__________________
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->Kawasaki KLE 500 '05 riding it, like I stole it
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  #6  
Old 18 May 2013
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Problem was a rusted ground connection on the starter motor...little bit of contact cleaner and a wire brush sorted it out. I guess that would be from all the rain and rivers I have been riding through. It was also a bit loose on the starter relay side which I tightened up. Since I have cleaned the contact I haven't had the issue again.

I found a bunch of plugs that look like they need some cleaning particularly the 3 big plugs on the junction box side. Plenty of work to be done yet.

Thanks for all the advice guys!
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  #7  
Old 18 May 2013
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Oh and I realise that most of the bike is waterproof. I just question the usefulness of pouring water on the starter motor. It might cool it down but from what I see in the manual there is no thermal control for the starter motor anyway. And if the coil was delaminating from heat it would be a consistent fault. Quickly followed by sparking and fire. Hopefully the fuse would catch it first.

Ride safe gents.
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