Starter doesn't operate

[rcbailey56]

I'm having a bit of trouble getting the '92 Venture Royale to turn over. The battery charger shows full charge. When I press the start button, the headlight goes out and the dash lights dim way down. Other than that the bike does nothing. No sounds are audible. No clicking or anything else.

 

I put it in 5th gear and pushed it and I can get the engine to turn a little that way, so I'm thinking it's not locked up.

 

I hooked a battery charger to it that is capable of starting my diesel truck and there is no change in behavior.

 

I looked at the wiring diagrams that Dingy posted and I see I may have a relay or solenoid problem, I don't know for sure.

 

Does anyone have any experience with a problem like this? Also, where is the relay and solenoid located on a 1st generation Venture?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice,

[Great White]

Simple things first: check cables and connections for corrosion.

 

Solenoid can be checked by jumping g terminals with a screwdriver. I've never done it on a Venture, but if it turns over nromally, solenoid is bad. You WILL get sparks and arcing if you try this. It may bugger up the post threads on the solenoid by some melting.

[KISA]

Solenoid can be checked by jumping g terminals with a screwdriver

[zagger]

Since the lights dim, it would seem that current is flowing from the battery into the starting circuit and the battery voltage is being dragged down. Sounds like the handlebar switch is working, the solenoid is making good contact, but the starter motor is dumping the power back to ground (negative terminal) without turning. The usual situation with a bad solenoid is that you hear it click as it attempts to make contact, but the contact to run the starter is so poor that the starter cannot turn. The battery voltage is not affected by this since there isn't a high current flow from the battery. So I'd bet on a bad (or mechanically stuck) starter motor.

Note that everything in this analysis depends on your observation that the bike lights dim down when you try to start it. If light dimming isn't true, then I'd bet on a bad solenoid.

zag

[rcbailey56]

Thank you so much for your reply. Yup, headlight goes out, dash lights go out, the dash volt meter doesn't hardly move though, I have to watch very closely to see any drop. Because of this, I was wondering if the headlight was wired to drop out of the circuit when starting.

 

Sounds like I may have a short in the starter or the wire going to it. I need to check the voltage at the starter when the button is pushed. That shouldn't be too difficult as I can find the starter. I traced the wire from the starter up, but it disappears into the fairing somewhere, so I don't really know where exactly the solenoid is, or what I have to take off the bike to get to it. First things first though.

 

Thanks again for the reply,

 

Richard

[frankd]

The solenoid is to the left of the battery. A good way to check the solenoid is to ground the small wire coming out of the solenoid. If the bike cranks, the starter and solenoid are good and you have something wrong in the bike wiring or starter interlocks. Try this......turn the key and cruise control ON and notice if the green cruise light comes on. If it does, this will verify that you don't have problems with your kill switch. Le.t us know what you find and we'll go from here.

 

Frank D

[Flyinfool]

Yes the start switch does turn off the headlight while starting.

 

The solenoid is on the left side of the battery.

 

Quick test is to hook up a digital voltmeter across the battery. A charged battery will read 12.6 volts. While cranking the voltage should stay above 10 volts.

 

To test the starter.

Put the bike on the center stand.

Double check to be sure it is in neutral.

Get your jumper cables and use one cable to connect from battery Positive to the stud on the starter motor that has the heavy wire attached. connect the other cable to battery negative and the starter case. It should crank the engine. If it does not you have a bad starter. If the starter does crank then you have an electrical problem that we can work through. There are not a lot of things can go wrong in the starter circuit.

[rcbailey56]

Thanks to both of you. I'm at work right now but when I get home, I'll try everything you've suggested.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk

[rcbailey56]

I did some testing last night. Ran jumper cables from battery to starter + to the post where the wire attaches and - to the starter case. Ignition on, starter turned just like it was supposed to. I disconnected the ground side just to make sure I didn't have a bad ground. Still did just fine.

 

I had to remove the battery and battery box to get to the solenoid. I'm thinking I would like to find a new home for that thing. Ran out of time and haven't tested the solenoid yet. I'll do that this afternoon late.

 

I'm looking forward to getting back to it and figuring this this thing out.

 

Thanks again,

 

Richard

[Flyinfool]

At least now you know that the starter itself is good along with the ground side of the circuit. This eliminates a bunch of stuff to check.

 

Again, put bike on center stand, double check it is in neutral.

There is a small blue/white wire attached to the solenoid, connect a jumper from that terminal of the solenoid to battery negative. The solenoid should click and the bike should crank. You do not need to have the ignition on for this test, unless you actually need or want the bike to start.

[rcbailey56]

Thanks Jeff,

 

I'll give that a try when I can get back down to the basement.

 

Just curious, where is the solenoid picking up the + side. Is it tied to the big battery wire that hooks to it?

[Flyinfool]

Yup.

There is an internal connection from the battery side heavy wire to the coil, so the circuits on the bike are switching the ground side of the circuit.

[rcbailey56]

I think I've got gremlins. I did the ground the small blue/white wire at the solenoid and the starter ran. After trying to get it back where it was mounted, I turned on the key, fuel pump ran and then I tried the starter button and that worked too.

 

Thinking back over the past few days of messing with this problem, I can't remember the fuel pump running when I switched it on. I'm thinking now, either I've got gremlins or a bad connection somewhere.

 

Oh well, it's working now and I'll have to wait till it doesn't again to troubleshoot this problem.

[Flyinfool]

I hate intermittent problems. It is so hard to fix something that aint broke.

 

Check the connectors in the areas that you disturbed, clean them whether they look dirty or not, an invisible film of oxidation is enough for a poor contact.

Problems that fix themselves while working on it are usually a bad connection.

[rcbailey56]

Alright, I'll do that.

 

Thanks to all of you who helped me with this problem.

 

Now that it's running, I warmed it up and thought it might be running a little rough so I got out my CarbTune and I don't see any vacuum.

 

I'll start a new thread for that though.

 

Thanks again,