THREE dead starter relays in the past month???

[Rusty the Scoob]

My 2002 SV650 has had THREE bad starter relays in the past month or so. Any ideas? The bike has 33,000 miles on it and is stock other than a rear shock swap. Runs just fine once I jump the terminals with a screwdriver.

Probably unrelated, but the vibrations in my left handgrip have been much worse for the past few weeks. I have not changed bar-end-weights or anything else in the past few years.

[Degsy]

Wirelessly posted

Pretty much only one thing can cause a relay to fail, something overdrawing. Can you check your battery -ve to frame ground resistance. Should be less than an ohm and hopefully zero. Cbeck that the battery has at least 12.5V at rest and 13.5v with motor running. A bad battery will cause the starter to draw more current. The last possibility is the motor is taking too much draw to turn over. Thy could be valve adjustments out causing higher than normal compression or a motor problem of some kind.

[Falko]

As ^ stated, low voltage can cause over amperage and destroy the contacts. Be sure the battery connections and the connections on the starter are good.

[NobodySpecific]

Wirelessly posted

Pretty much only one thing can cause a relay to fail, something overdrawing. Can you check your battery -ve to frame ground resistance. Should be less than an ohm and hopefully zero. Cbeck that the battery has at least 12.5V at rest and 13.5v with motor running. A bad battery will cause the starter to draw more current. The last possibility is the motor is taking too much draw to turn over. Thy could be valve adjustments out causing higher than normal compression or a motor problem of some kind.

New vibrations plus new starter problems lead me to believe it is the last possibility. When was the last valve check? What were the results? When is it due again?

[Rusty the Scoob]

Ooooh... WAY overdue for a valve check, I'm afraid.

Battery is about a year old IIRC and was kept on a good YUASA charger/maintainer all winter.

[Degsy]

Wirelessly posted

Could also be a bad starter motor with an internal short.

[NobodySpecific]

Ooooh... WAY overdue for a valve check, I'm afraid.

Battery is about a year old IIRC and was kept on a good YUASA charger/maintainer all winter.

The starter could still be suspect, but I would say it's time to check the valves.

[Rusty the Scoob]

The starter could still be suspect, but I would say it's time to check the valves.

I tend to agree - since i KNOW the valves are overdue for a check, I might as well start there. I'm sure I could do it in my driveway but don't really have time.

Degsy - do you guys have interest in doing a valve check/adjustment if I drop it off and pick it up in Watertown? I could always drop it off at GBM if not so no big deal either way.

[Stromper]

The poor starter juice has to go through

Key
Clutch
Kick Stand
And all the connectors in between

B4 you sh*t another jump the fire lead direct from the hot battery and see the starter do.

My Strom wouldn't crank and I knew I had washed it the day before, popped the clutch like 4 times and it started right up.

[stoinkythepig]

The valve adjust would only affect the starter solenoid if the engine need to be cranked over and over before it finally starts. If that's not the case, concentrate on electrical issues, not mechanical. I vote with the low voltage/high current camp, but I could be swayed into voting for an internal fault in the starter motor that's making it draw excessive current and making the contacts arc badly in the solenoid. Not sure how much current your starter should draw, but a clamp-on ammeter would easily tell you how much current it is drawing. I'm thinking it should be around 40 to 60 amps max.

[Rusty the Scoob]

You could be right, it fires up with little hesitation when I jump the relay with a screwdriver.


Update to the symptoms - it started this morning with no problem using the handlebar starter switch, and a relay that I thought was dead. Maybe the colder weather helped? I also noticed fewer handlebar vibes.

[stoinkythepig]

You could be right, it fires up with little hesitation when I jump the relay with a screwdriver.


Update to the symptoms - it started this morning with no problem using the handlebar starter switch, and a relay that I thought was dead. Maybe the colder weather helped? I also noticed fewer handlebar vibes.

So, I'm guessing now that you did not really prove the 3 relays were bad. If so, I'd look into other issues starting with kickstand and clutch switches.

[Rusty the Scoob]

You may be right, but every time I put in a new starter relay it immediately goes from verifiably not-starting to verifiably starting. Which I suppose could be either a coincidence or a red herring.

Some relevant facts to your theory: The clutch switch is bypassed. The side-stand switch is not, but if the side stand switch (or clutch switch for that matter) were the issue would it not still start in Neutral?

[stoinkythepig]

I;d have to see a wiring diagram to know if the side stand switch would affect it or not. Open up one of the old relays and see if thre contacts are wrecked. If not, the problem lies elsewhere.

Does the relay click when the starter button is depressed and the starter fails to turn?

[NobodySpecific]

Have you checked your battery connections? I was riding along one day, everything was fine. Stopped to take some pictures, go to get back on the bike and it is completely dead. After trying to bump start it on a very slight incline for what felt like an hour, I decided to pull the seat and take a look. Things looked ok, but one of the cables was just barely loose. A quick tightening and it started right up.