When fitting the earth leads, properly clean the area where the terminals fit on engine and frame (no paint, bare metal). Smear the earth lead terminals and the metal with copper grease............use flat washers to make the contact good........if you use the 'star' / 'serrated' type of washer, they will initially make reasonable contact, but it is really only the the tips of the spiky bits that touch which soon allow corrosion under them. My lead acid battery (a branded Yuasa copy by the look of it) is about six years old and is gradually on its way out. The leads are all OEM but as the connections are good, even with the suspect battery, it will still spin over well. AL
To be honest, I have read so much about the potential advantages of the upgrade, I thought it was worth a go while I had the panels off
Cheers Chris, I will have a look and see what the best way forward is. For some reason there never seems to me an easy cable route on my bike for anything
Hi AL Looking at all the reply's, I think I will double check all the connections are clean and tight. Perhaps try it for a bit and then see about changing the cables. From what I can see, it looks as though the injected versions may be OK?? but noticed on a few internet searches that even new bikes can fall fowl of the poor starting/crap wire issue??
I wasn't discounting Chris's advice by any means..........he's normally right on the ball (if not always). If I began to get issues like poor starting that couldn't be traced to anything else, I would certainly beef up the cables.......in my case because I have had time and cleaning filth from the engine, I automatically stripped the cables off and cleaned up all the connections. Despite being corroded quite badly, the bike would still turn over easily (Compression is fine, BTW). However, I rarely ride in cr*p conditions (largely because I am in such cr*p condition and cannot afford to have an off) therefore corrosion isn't an issue.
Me neither AL, I am grateful for all the help available on here, it has been invaluable to me in the past I never take the Duc out in the wet, But I think the previous owner may have done, so I guess a good clean and even a beef up of the wiring as Chris suggested is a good idea.
My bike (1991 900ss) suffered a similar problem that turned out to be the relay for the ignition/lights etc. It's a small square box with three pins next to the clocks. Never assume that it is working cos it goes 'click' when ignition turned on. I prised the lid off the box , cleaned the contacts and it all worked again. Recommend doing this and then sealing box with epoxy.
Hi Mattock I did actually replace that relay last year and got a spare at the same time I looked at the earth last night and it was a bit gunked up. gave it a good clean and it seems to be OK now. Checked all the other connections from the battery and tightened everything up where I could. Fingers crossed it will be fine now.
There really isn't a downside to the wiring upgrade, but injected bikes don't seem as badly affected. The wiring in general is very good on the ie with car type plugs and silicone waterproofing rings - it's very good. If the problem resurfaces I'd go through and clean everything. Have you gone around with a multimeter? My first port of call would be the white plastic plug that goes into the solenoid and check you have 12v when the button is pressed. If you do it's only really likely to be the solenoid (check the pins haven't opened up while you are at it - this plug is a known weak spot and one of the few 'traditional' plugs on the bike) As I said earlier, my starter button was faulty when j bought my bike, I'd not get a click, and no 12v at the plug either. A £20 used part from eBay and its been perfect since.
Appreciate this is an old thread - but it helped me! I had the exact same issue as the original poster - no click from solenoid and no starting. Battery was badly discharged so tried to fix that first and try again. No dice as battery wouldn't hold a charge. Got a new battery (Shido LION) - and still no joy, except at least fuel pump and all other electrical circuits were fine. Removed solenoid and tried connecting to battery - still no click. Thought about buying new solenoid.. Then I read further down the thread and tried touching together the wires to the solenoid together to check the starter motor. This turned over OK. Put the solenoid back on for one more try, and hey presto it fired up. Guess the starter motor must have been partly jammed up or else just removing and refitting the solenoid helped somehow. The Shido battery (though expensive) looks to be well worth the money as the cranking power seems to be huge. It also weighs next to nothing. Thanks!
