Hi folks, my first post so be gentle so i have this 2003 1000ds that I bought as a non runner, it was immobilised and the starter motor was knackered. I have had the ecu sorted so it's no longer immobilised and I have installed a new starter. Trouble is it won't turn over on the bike's battery and even with a huge car battery and massive jump leads it barely turns over. I have had a clamp meter on the positive which shows 360 amps at the peak so the starter is pulling the current which kind of rules out a bad connection. The bike seems to run just fine on the rare occasion when it will fire up although sometimes it cuts out on tickover when cold. I have tried shorting out the solenoid when the bike is cranking to make sure it is not high resistance - that checks out fine too. The weird thing is if I disconnect all the spark plugs it turns over quite well on the car battery but still not on the bike's battery, which is measuring 12.71 volts at idle. It is doing my head in. Can the ignition timing be adjusted on these? It's almost as if it's running too much advance at start up. Does the air temp sensor influence timing? I don't have a diag box for it so can't read what the ecu is doing or what it thinks the temp is. Any advice gratefully received.
Try running a jump lead from the battery negative to the 3rd bolt of the starter motor that is outside the casing. See if that improves the motor speed. If it does, then a secondary earth cable from the battery negative to the bolt will improve things. There are kits out there that will improve the cabling to the starter motor.
hi christian, thanks for that, i had already tried that but sadly it made no difference. I don't think the starter or wiring is the problem - the starter has been refurbed and is pulling massive current when the engine stalls. With the spark plugs installed but disconnected it spins over fairly well. It's weird.
