Maxim I starting issues

Bought the bike late last year and not had many outings so far. The issue is that if I 'miss' the first start she does not want to fire a second time until I switch off, wait for a while and try again. I normally get her 2nd or 3rd attempt. Then she seems ok for the rest of the day.

If I don't go through the switch off and on again (dang IT techie solution) the oil light dims as I press the starter and she clicks but nothing else. So switch off, wait and switch on etc.

Now that was until last week when she needed a bump start to get going and since she just clicks and oil light dims.(So I assume she's drawing power on starter button)

My plan in this order is: check battery, check wiring, check relay (already hit rebuilt starter with a hammer [dang chippie's solution]) BUT if anyone has better ideas or guidance gratefully recieved. I've ridden for years but never got my hands dirty much now at 61 it's time!

 

Battery.
Unless there are at least 10 volts available as the engine turns over the TCI can't fire the spark plugs.
Do a voltage drop thest to confirm.

 

GOOD PLAN!
My plan in this order is: check battery, check wiring, check relay

 

Could also be related to bad alternator brushes. My bike was a little hard to start and would shut down when I hit the brakes. Then it would not start for a while. The brushes were bad and the alternator output was too low to fire the plugs.

 

also clean battery cable and starter cable and posts on solinoid.

 

Try jumping with a car battery. I would put the odds at better than 75% you have a weak battery

 

Thanks guys great useful advice. I'll report back with results.

 

Update: I had a cheap (Lidl/wlamart type) battery tester which read ‘low’ charge. I used jumper cables from my car battery to get the bike running. She was a tad hesitant but hadn’t run in 2 weeks. Anyway she started and idled. On revving, the lights brightened so stator and regulator seem ok.

I shut down and tried to refire on her own steam – no chance.

I took the battery off and put her on charge (at a mates place as I only have an old trickle charger and not sure how effective that is) after 2 1/2 hours charge and a 3 hour wait. She just fired up easily. I’ll try her again tomorrow BUT seems to me that the battery (as many suggested) is at fault and a new one will be ordered by the weekend.

I will also be buying a multi meter for more involved testing and self learning how to use it along the way.

Again thanks for all your replies.

 

Hold off on the battery for now. Have it load tested (free anywhere batteries are sold) just to be sure that it's still useable.
The alternator isn't charging the battery.
Pull the alternator cover off and check the length of the brushes. You'll probably find that they are at or near the wear indicators.
Clean the rotor traces with a hard eraser while you're in there.

 

bike batterys like a slow charge.

when you get your meter what you want to see is about a 12.8 volts on the battery after the battery sits overnight. standing voltage is the term.
I got 4 years out of my walmart battery. lead acid type . kept it full. use distilled water
get in the routine of checking the battery on a regular schedule.

I made a test lead out of the connector for the trickle charger just plug it into meter then into mating connector on the bike. that way I do not have to remove side cover.
makes for a quick setup and test of voltage drop when you press starter button and when bike is warming up how well the voltage climbs with the rpms.

good info in this thread on charging system and what voltages you should get.
The Ultimate Relay, Switch, Sensor, and Diodes Guide

I also test battery at higher rpm to make sure voltage does not keep climbing above 14.8 volts

 

So, here's where I am with things. Import of my VT1100C (Sorry guys) stopped play on the XJ for a while but finally got back to it.

In terms of the Starter motor itself, I had done a rebuild including replaced brushes late last year so I was fairly sure that wasn’t the source of my problem.

So, start at the switch. The screws were in solid. I bought screw extractors and just managed to get one free but screw head won’t be good enough to reuse it. The second screw head didn’t like the extractor at all, but succumbed to the gentle charms of a hacksaw blade and is now trashed so both have been replaced. Once inside, it was remarkably clean on the contacts for the kill settings (left and right) but the start button contact was a tad rusty so cleaned it all up and put it back together – No change.

Didn’t really want to take the Starter off again but kept it in mind to do a bench check. I did the old ‘tap it gently’ trick which didn’t improve matters, although promising to thrash it within an inch of its life didn’t have any effect either.

Next I thought I’d have a go at upsetting the solenoid. It was clicking when I pressed the start button and I thought a gentle tap, if it were the culprit, might change it’s mind. No change with a tap on the front so I reasoned a bash up its arse end might be better. As I pressed the start button, the screw driver touched the back surface and she roared into life. Interesting!

Priced up a replacement but thought I’d follow some of the advice above first and give it a good clean. Yey, Thursday night in the garage, radio on so I’m like a dog with 2 whatsits. I pulled wires out all over the shop and then sat back and thought Feck where do these go back! cleaned stuff for a while, came in and read the wiring diagrams (several times) reconnected and vroom fired first time. tried it 5 times and she fired up every time. Happy days? Well nearly.

I tried her again tonight and she’s playing hard to get again. A tad hit and miss on the old starting up BUT I am 99.9% sure now that the solenoid is the issue and will order one post haste.

Just an extra ask – Anyone got a relevant part number to make sure I get the right one. I like to support my local auto part store as a first try and use t’interweb as a back up so an identifier for the solenoid would be helpful.

 

I use cmsnl.com to identify my parts and part numbers. Not sure if your bike is on the list though.