'82 XJ650 starting issues, makes click sound

Hey everyone,
It's been a while since I've been on the forum here, but always been very helpful. I'm trying to diagnose where the starting issue is on my new maxim. It starts and runs great and I can always do a push start, but the starter seems to be faulty at best. It was working almost 9/10 times a few months ago, but now it seems like everything has to be sitting just right otherwise when I press the start button all I hear is a clicking noise. It's like the starter tries to engage, but doesn't quite get there. I'm not sure if this is a starter issue or maybe ignition switch, just not too familiar and it's been a while since I did the starter on my old maxim. Any help appreciated

 

How old is the battery? Do you have a multi meter that you can test it with?

 

The battery is a year or two old, but also seems to be fully charged. I do have a multi-meter

 

What is your reading on the meter? It should be at least 12.6 at rest. Also check while trying to crank. It should not drop below 11.4.

 

What is water level? Service with distilled water if low. Get a starter rebuild kit they are cheap.

 

Im going with battery first.....I don't care if it's fresh out of the box----I've seen/had enough bad new batteries

 

Thanks for the advice guys. I just did some testing and it seems a little low but not much, I'm not sure if this little bit might be enough to cause my issue. Also I haven't checked the water level in the battery but if I pull it out to charge it I will.

Here are the battery test numbers:
Resting 11.9-12.1
Cranking 10.45
Running 13.98

 

Those numbers are low. It may not seem like your numbers are very low, but your battery provides power for initial spark as well as turning over the engine. I had a battery that would crank the engine over and over, but no start. New battery... Vroom!

I noticed you put a range on your resting results. Does it slowly read lower and lower as you hold the probes on the battery?

Do you have a tender? if so, use it. If not, I recommend purchasing a unit that is a combo charger/tender. It charges till full, then switches over to just a tender that you can leave on all the time.

 

I'll definitely look at charging or replacing the battery then. The range didn't keep getting lower but just kept jumping around within that small margin. I'm not sure I'm familiar with what a tender is. I have a trickle charger I think is all.

 

The words tender/charger/maintainer are often used interchangeably.

A tender is just that. It "tends" to your battery when the engine is not running. The UP side is that you can leave it attached to your battery without worry that it will overcharge. The DOWN side is that if your battery is low, it will only keep it at whatever level the current state of your battery is in. In other words, if you have a known good battery, a tender will keep it happy for a long time.

Harbor Freight has a cheap one (they refer to it as a charger) that will suffice for a good working battery when not in use. I have had my VW Beetle on it for a few years now with no negative side effects. If I were to run the battery down though for some reason, it will not be able to bring it back up to full capacity. It's here:
http://www.harborfreight.com/automatic-battery-float-charger-42292.html

Then there's the combo unit I was referring to. It switches from trickle charger mode (again, to bring power up if it is down) to maintainer mode. I have this one:
http://www.batterytender.com/Dion/Battery-Tender-Junior-12V-0-75A.html
You can find it cheaper than the price listed at online retailers/Walmart, etc. It's made in the USA (Florida) and is a great little unit. I actually purchased it when I purchased my new battery (Yuasa YTX14AHL-BS AGM).

The Yuasa battery needs to be set up before use. Pour the included acid in, charge, etc... After I put the acid in and let it settle, I just connected the otherwise lifeless battery to the charger and left it for the recommended time.

When you are ready to install on the bike, there is a second set of connections that you can leave screwed into the battery so that the plug/unplug is easy when you want to ride.
I also added a converter (http://www.batterytender.com/Accessories/USB-Charger-QDC.html) to it to give me the much needed USB power to charge the phone. You'll have to swap the converter on and off as needed, but it is worth it for the longer rides... Neat!

 

Alright, so it's been a few days. But I checked the water level on the battery, serviced it, and got it back to a full charge. The battery tests well, but still having starting issues when I use the button. Where it will always push start I'm thinking it can't be the ignition either, but would have to me the starter or a relay to it. Any thoughts? Again all I get is a click when it doesn't start like it's getting signal at the battery to start but it stops there.

 

So the water level needed attention?
Did you do the same tests (rest, crank, running above 2k rpm)?
Are all of your electronic connections clean and tight? (Especially the grounds)

I'm going with what others have said. Bite the bullet, buy a new battery and eliminate that as being an issue (which I would be willing to bet is your issue).

 

I had the same symptoms as in the original post.... I was getting the click, but the starter would not turn. Bumpstart worked fine, etc. Resting battery voltage was 12.8v, so i deemed my battery was good.

Turns out, though, my main ground wire had loosened from the battery terminal. There was enough contact for the low current solenoid "click" but when the solenoid closed, the resistance in the weak ground connection was too high and the starter would not turn.

At first look the wires looked tight, but when i used a tool to tighten them down properly, they made good contact and the starter would finally turn.

If the solenoid is shot, you might hear a click but it may not be closing the circuit to the starter. Try jumping the solenoid terminals with a screwdriver or quarter. If jumping the solenoid terminals causes the starter to turn, it could be a bad solenoid. (easily replaced with http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/261834161265, or hit up chacal for the OEM option)

If bump/roll starting works, then its not the ignition coil or the TCI.

If everything else checks out maybe you need new brushes in your starter?

Grasping at straws sure is fun!

Good luck!

 

The battery is probably the most likely suspect - they can even short out internally and give false voltage readings, but you may want to try this to eliminate more possibilities - Hook your volt meter leads + to the large solenoid terminal that has the cable going to the starter - lead to ground. When you hit the starter button and get the click only, see if you have voltage showing on the meter. Volts show, starter problems . No volts, solenoid bad (assuming your good battery is connected to the other large terminal). That solenoid click sound is the internal mechanism that connects the big terminals (battery to starter) and has a different power circuit feeding it. Hope this helps.