Project - Snail

Just to nip this in the bud before I go and check that everything is right as I think I may have solved my problem. It looks like the battery is just connected to the starter and thats it, that seems wrong to me, or am I just been dumb?

So if thats right from this picture, positive should hook up to blue, negative to red, the green has some sort of hook on it already, no clue what that is for :S

[flymo]

Originally Posted by plowsie

Just to nip this in the bud before I go and check that everything is right as I think I may have solved my problem. It looks like the battery is just connected to the starter and thats it, that seems wrong to me, or am I just been dumb?

So if thats right from this picture, positive should hook up to blue, negative to red, the green has some sort of hook on it already, no clue what that is for :S

I would expect to see a positive from the solenoid connected to the blue circle. The starter motor case would be earthed due to it being fastened to the engine case, there may be an earth lead connected to one of the fastening bolts but thats probably there as an engine earth/frame connection or similar, not for the starter itself.

Think of the solenoid as a switch. When you press the starter button its switched on, supplying the starter motor. When you let go of the button it switches off, along with the starter.

If it was permanently connected to the battery without a soleniod then the starter would be turning permanently if the battery had any charge. Pretty unlikely.

With a good earth connection, if you took a jump lead from the positive terminal on the battery to the terminal you have circled in blue, the starter should spin up. Obviously make sure the bike is not in gear before doing this or you'll be chasing it down the garage.

Also, check that there is an earth lead connecting the engine to the frame or at least the wiring loom. These can corrode if left for too long and cause all number of weird electrical issues.

Originally Posted by flymo

I would expect to see a positive from the solenoid connected to the blue circle. The starter motor case would be earthed due to it being fastened to the engine case, there may be an earth lead connected to one of the fastening bolts but thats probably there as an engine earth/frame connection or similar, not for the starter itself.

Thats how it was, okay so I'm not playing dumb then and got it right So will try the spanner 'key' trick.

Gotcha on all the other stuff.

So if I was to just connect the battery to the starter motor with jump leads she would spin the starter motor? Spose I could give that a bash if no joy.

Cheers mate.

[flymo]

Originally Posted by plowsie

So if I was to just connect the battery to the starter motor with jump leads she would spin the starter motor?

Yep, you got it.

Whether the engine would actually start though is an entirely different story, but we can cross that bridge when you get there.

Right, tried it all. Think the battery is now fudged. I've connected up the starter motor to another bike battery whilst running and it sounds like it wants to spin, then just gets stopped by a force(as I'd something is blocking the starter from spinning). I checked the starter first to see if it would spin out of the motor and it does so no need to try another starter, but I did, same result.

Which now leads me to believe that something in the engine is stopped it from turning at all...

Now, what gets me is, on the engine in the frame, the three connector pins from the altenator are not connected (bear with me here), but they will lead to Mr nowhere anyway, as there is no reg/rec on the bike...whilst I was testing different methods to get the starter going, I connected these up to the pins where they would go and no joy.

Baffled doesn't cover it.

[flymo]

Next thing I would be checking is that the engine actually turns. Remove spark plugs to remove compression and give it a go, it should spin nice and easy. Make sure its not in gear.

If it doesnt you have something more serious to worry about.

Dumbass mode- Do I leave them in the caps and earth them to the frame?

[flymo]

Originally Posted by plowsie

Dumbass mode- Do I leave them in the caps and earth them to the frame?

Easist way is to just unplug the ECU and give it a spin.

[flymo]

Originally Posted by flymo

Easist way is to just unplug the ECU and give it a spin.

Edit...just had a read back through, I lost track which engine you had in.

This is the one from Mister C yes? Was it running ok before you got it?

Yeah mate, it was running fine when he give it me last week.