Hello and help please..on the right page this time

[ceemes]

Hello, Earlier this year I picked up an '87 Connie 1000 A-2 to replace my beloved but dying V45 Sabre. And I have to admit, I love the Connie as much as the Sabre. Trouble is, I now have a tech issue, namely not starting or turning over. At first I thought it was a problem with the battery, as it died while trying to start the bike one day after only a few cranks of the starter motor. A check of the battery showed that its fluid level were very low. I top it up with distilled water and put it on the charger. Seemed to charge up fine and I had full lights and instrumentation. But when I hit the start button, all I got was a single click noise coming from the starter solenoid. Called by local Kawasaki shops and the techs said it sounded like a bad battery. Bought a new battery, popped it in an still no joy, just the same click from the starter solenoid and no cranking from the starter motor. I have pulled all the fuses to check them and the look good as do the connection at the fuse box. Same with the solenoid, all connections look clean and tight. And as far as I can see all the wiring looks good so far. I am planning on stripping off all the plastic tomorrow and going over the whole system as much as I can, including taking apart the start button as per the Kawasaki techs recommendation. He also mentioned that the brushes on the starter motor maybe worn out and I should pull the starter motor off last if I cannot find the problem in the wiring. But before I start really tearing into the engine guts, I'd like to get some advice about what else I should be looking for or if hints from others who may of had the same problems in the past and how they fixed them. Thanks to all, Ceemes

 

[Cap'n Bob]

Clicking is normally a sigh of low battery, bad connections or a bad starter. If you checked the rest, it's probably the starter. The start button basically applies power to the solenoid (relay), which in turn applies 12 volts to the starter. What I would suggest first (Make sure the bikes in neutral) is using a good size jumper wire to go directly from the positive battery terminal on one side, and momentarily touch the positive wire from the solenoid to the starter (it's probably going to spark). If the starter spins over OK, then your problem is the solenoid. If it does nothing at all or just tries to spin, the probelm is probably your starter. Try that first and lets see what you get. Bionic Bob COG & AMA member First C14 CDA member #0220 08 C14,03 Mean Streak, & 86 C10

 

[S Smith]

I will defer to the experts, but could this be caused by a J-Box problem?

 

[bxrbob]

Have you tried gently tapping on the J-box? If you are not familiar it is on the left side as you sit on the bike under the side panel. This is where all your fuses are located and is a somewhat common problem. Larry Buck I believe can recondition it for a fee or if you are good with a soldering iron, do it yourself. Not sure if there is an article in Chaldust, but search for j-box issues on the forum.

 

[spacesuit6]

You NEED to read this thread -- might be the same thing I ran into. http://cog-online.org/clubportal/mboards/viewmessages.cfm?clubID=1328&forum=1406&Topic=19527

 

[ceemes]

Today pulled the plastic and rechecked all the connections. New battery in place and still no joy. Used my jumper cables to make a direct connection from the battery positive terminal to the positive terminal leading to the the starter motor on the solenoid. Starter did not turn over and I could here a very low humming noise coming from the starter. Will pull the starter tonight and see if I can trouble shoot it. Planning on using the old battery to make a direct connection to the start to see if it spins.

 

[willyp]

How to test connections... Use a voltmeter! First verify battery voltage. Put the leads of the voltmeter on the post of the battery... Not the ring terminal, not the bolt, but the part of the battery that is a permanent part of the battery. Now that you know the battery is charged, move the positive lead to the ring terminal, the voltage should be the same. Move the positive lead to the battery side of the solenoid, should still be the same. If at any point you read a lower voltage you have a bad connection. Now put the positive lead back on the battery, and move the negative lead to the frame, the voltage should be about the same as when it was on the battery. Check also the case of the starter with the negative. You may need to scratch your connections with the leads to get a good connection with the voltmeter probes, they are sharp for just this purpose. Once you've got all these connections as good as you can, put the leads back on the battery and hit the starter button briefly, the voltage should drop considerably. Make a mental note of what it dropped to. Now you can measure the voltage at the starter side of the solenoid, and at the starter terminal, on the starter itself. In both cases, you should get a voltage, when hitting the starter button, very close to the same as when measured at the battery. You should also check the terminal on the starter relay that gets power from the starter switch, using the same method.

 

[ceemes]

Brother finally arrived with the volt metre today, everything checks out A-one current wise right up to the start motor. Looks like the starter is shot. We looked at it and decided that this is a job best left to the pros, so now waiting for baby brother to come back with a trailer and off to the shop it goes. May as well get them to do a full service while they have it. Sigh, the joys of owning a bike and a small parking space in an underground garage.