HOW DO I TEST THE STARTER SOLENOID ON BCR

[stivesvelo]

Hi,

I've had a look through past posts on starter motors and it appears that when the solenoid fail people are replacing the whole starter motor, I have a similar problem to that described by others.

Bike is well cared for approx 19k miles.

ie. fully charged 2 yr old pampered Odyssey batt having ridden 25 mies from work, stopped for petrol started & stalled on take off so pulled in clutch & got a really feeble attempt to turn engine over, just like a flat battery, put itn neutral & had to leave it to recover before a couple of attempts which didn't manage to turn it over, on the final attempt it just turned over & started.

Put the charger on when I got home & it said fully charged.

Last night I pulled the starter off (that allen screw holding the back of the cover in place is a bit of a sod), tried to get it working by direct connection from a spare battery - nothing doing.

Removed solenoid, checked brushes, look almost new, so used jump leads to contacts on motor which works fine.

I have the solenoid here (well just off to work as soon as I have typed this) and a multi meter, anybody know how to test the solenoid before I go & buy a replacement?

Thanks
Rob

[stivesvelo]

OK, I worked out how to test the solenoid & it works ok.

So, I dismantled the motor & at the drive end when you pull the reduction gear/bendix away, there is the small drive gear as shown in your pictures, but mine is different.
Instead of what appears to be a heavy collar on yours, mine has a flat plate below the gear, almost the diameter of the inside of the casing (to separate the armature from the reduction gear I guess) and this has been in contact with the end of the armature windings, causing some shorting and burning of the flat plate/washer.
To me it seems as if there should be some insulating spacer which is missing, to prevent any contact between the windings and anything else.

I'll take it to work tomorrow & call into an electrical type of friend if he's around to get some advice.
I am hoping that a good clean & a bit of lacquer (nail varnish?) on the ends of the windings will at least cover the exposed bits & some sort of separator for the 'plate' will save what appears to be an otherwise good starter.

Any opinions gladly accepted, but in the meantime I'll see what I can do & will report back in due course..... otherwise I'll have to buy a new one..
... oh & I have ordered a replacement solenoid so if anyone needs one in the future I may have a spare...

Rob

(I've taken some photos but have no time to work out how to post them here, I can email them if someone can put them up here as it may be useful for others if I manage to fix it)

[stivesvelo]

I think I know what the problem is now!!

The loose plate which I found rubbing against the end of the armature shorting the windings & causing the erratic starting problem is in fact the end cover for the reduction gear housing to keep the grease in and the dust from the brushes out.

It must have been rattling about making occasional contact with the end of the windings, so all I need to do is fix it (or a replacement) in place so it can't happen again.

I'll clean & lacquer the ends of the windings where it's been worn off & fingers crossed I'm back in business.

Must have been a Friday afternoon or Monday morning job.

[das bike u1100s]

I saw your 1st post and was about to reply when I read the last!
you had the same symptoms as mine. I took the starter off and had it examined. they found the same plate had dropped down causing the short, bad design they told me
, charged £20 for sorting and cleaned it up as well, said it was in good nick otherwise.
saved buying a new one!!
Paul

[stivesvelo]

Yes, really poor piece of cheapo work. Fixed it & now back & working fine, seems better than ever.

Mind you always seems to run better when I've polished it so could be imagining it!

BTW £20 is very reasonable!