How can you tell if its the starter.....

[jsun3701]

I need some help here guys. Let me give you the short and sweet. I have a 1995 HX with a micro touch rev limiter and factory pipes. It died on me the other day after a little washover from a boat wake / jump. Here is what I know:

-15 amp fuse melted
-solenoid will only click, ski does nothing else
-Battery is reading 12.6 volts
-All connections have been WD40'd
-Flywheel has all teeth and spins freely
-Windings look ok from peering through holes in flywheel
-Tried jumping solenoid, nothing happened
-compression was 125 and 125
-MPEM is reading 12 volts
-Rectifier is reading 12 volts
-NO power to ignition coil
-No spark
-Guages light up
-continuity between kill switch and start stop is good
-All grounds are tight
-Spark plugs are a nice shade of light brown

Questions?
1. If it was the starter should I pull it and bench test to make sure?
2. If the starter didnt engage flywheel would this be why I have no spark?

PLEEZ give me some input!! Thanks

-JSUN

 

[kustomkarl]

JSUN,the 15 amp fuse is the main fuse needed for the Module to work. If you jump across the solenoid it is giving the starter direct power. The battery ground is connected next to the starter. The solenoid has a battery direct cable to it and the starter wire direct to the starter. Double check the ground. It could be that the 15 amp fuse blew because of a bad ground connection. Re-check the switches on the handlebars. Check the continuity of the Safety Switch Lanyard. It is normally "open". The color codes of the 2 wires are Black and Black/Yellow. These feed back into the electrical module box. The Start /Stop switch is normally "open". The color codes of the 2 wires are Black, that goes direct to ground, (to stop the engine), and the Yellow/Red that goes to the electrical module box.

I hope this info helps. Keep us posted with your progress.

Karl

 

[jsun3701]

Roger

I will do that again tomorrow. I am also going to take the starter and battery to autozone and get them checked as well. Do I have to loosen the motor mounts to get the ground off? I dont see me getting it off without taking the exhaust heads off or lifting the motor. Is there a trick to it?

By the way you rock, thank you for your input!

 

[scooper77515]

Damn, Karl...How do you know all this stuff???

 

[jsun3701]

Well, well, well

I believe I have found the gremlin in my machine. With some good advice I removed the starter and cleaned all the grounds and figured I might take the starter apart. There it was, the positive lead to the positive brush was off. My guess it is, it came loose on a jump and touched the side of the housing, thus a massive short circuit or for you Karl, a direct ground. I will be getting a new starter and hopefully be back out ASAP, assuming that was the only thing damaged. Thanks for the advice Karl.I will be posting pictures soon.

 

[kustomkarl]

Damn, Karl...How do you know all this stuff???

I stay at the Holiday Inn when I travel...:rofl:

I'm glad I could help. it's a good thing when you find a problem and get it resolved.

Karl

 

[jsun3701]

Karl can you reccomend a good sight to get new brushes for the starter. I hate to get a total new one when its just a mesed up brush.

 

[kustomkarl]

Check out our "parts" link at the top of the page. I have looked around and it seems to be real competitive price wise.

Karl