any ideal why starter wouldnt spin with hot wired solinoild

Energy One

hbevins

Member
lastweekend got down to 45 at night. went out to start the bike next morning..no go. the dash lights wouldnt come on till it got warmer outside. the starter still would not spin ..fully charged battery..so i thought i would just run a jumper wire to starter to check it out, still wouldnt spin even after lights on dash worked. thought starter might went out without warning. messed with it all day checking grounds and everything thought about taking starter off that after noon, but when i hit the button she fired rite up, same thing next morning nothing..that afternoon fired up went for ride..been warmer this week and it has started as it did all summer. now the ehc might be why the dash lights didnt work and the flashers were on but what kept starter from spinning when i touched it to hot wire? i did try hittin the run button on handle bars before i tried to get it to spin...can the ehc cause that..i know on a car if you jump starter it will spin ..may not start but it will spin...now its getting 60s at night and the bike starts like nothing is wrong..usually on a car if starter is bad it will drag worse after its heatted up but the bike starts back good after a ride. im not electrician and know very little about bikes, i had lites on at the ech when this happened so i know my ignition was turning on.. surely the starter wouldnt keep the dash lite from coming on..am i correct or does everything run threw the starter and it had the issue not the ech?..if it were two different issues why would they happen at the same time both times after cold night...and yes the battery was load testted and fully charged. i have done alot of reading post by others and seen flashers being on..mine did come on also..does that mean any certain thing or just a problem in the system..i know but a true stupid question is one not ask...well thats what i heard anyhow...thanks
 

Mikeinjersey

Well-Known Member
lastweekend got down to 45 at night. went out to start the bike next morning..no go. the dash lights wouldnt come on till it got warmer outside. the starter still would not spin ..fully charged battery..so i thought i would just run a jumper wire to starter to check it out, still wouldnt spin even after lights on dash worked. thought starter might went out without warning.
Without considering all you have written about the EHC and temperature. If you unplug the green wire from the starter and connect 12.8 volts from the battery with a jumper (not cables its a low current connection) the starter should turn over. On my 07 k9 the starter grounds directly to the negative side of the battery through the mounting bolt. Yours is probably the same.
First make sure that ground on your bike is clean and tight. When you apply the voltage to your jumper wire you should hear the solenoid pull in to make contact from the + side to the - side of the battery which will turn the starter. If the starter turns the noise of the starter will drown out the solenoid sound but rest assured it fired. If you don't hear the solenoid you have a bad/open connection from your jumper to ground through the solenoid circuit. If you hear the solenoid fire but the starter fails to turn it could simply be bad contacts inside the solenoid. Less likely but possible you could have dead spots in your armature. Keep in mind dead spots can tricky. If the starter lands on a good spot after the last time it was used it will seem good until it lands on the bad spot. Not cool but that's what makes troubleshooting electrical problems fun. :D
If all checks good then look at your EHC and why it's not sending the voltage to the starter. It could definitely be related to temperature but needs to be troubleshot first.
 
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