suzuki gt 550 starter problems

[Monkey man]

Hi guys need some advise - my gt550 has a lazy starter motor - despite having a new and fully charged battery it will not fire up the bike when cold and i have to use the kick start.It will fire up when the bike is warm .any ideas what to look for?

[yeadon_m]

Possibilities:
-starter motor brushes are worn (drain oil, remove centre exhausts, take off starter cover, remove cable and two bolts, withdraw and check)
-starter cable or earth poorly connected (check at motor and at solenoid and also engine fat earth cable at right rear of crankcase to battery negative)
Good luck!
Mike

[Coyote]

Could also be the starter solenoid itself. It's job is to throw full battery voltage to the starter motor when you push the starter button. There are 2 large lugs on the solenoid. One from the battery and one going to the starter. Use a piece of heavy wire or the tips of a pair if pliers to jump across the 2 lugs. If the starter spins normally, then the solenoid id bad. Do this test first before tearing everything down

[rngdng]

The starter button itself could be corroded in the right switch pod. Those contacts can get nasty and provide very poor connections.....


Lane

[Alan H]

Firstly, is it a new GOOD battery. I got an original type and it was useless. Then I bought a Motobatt and it has been brilliant.

Short across the 2 main terminals on the starter solenoid with a LARGE spanner. Does the engine spin?
No, it's the cables or joints to the motor, earth or perhaps the motor brushes.
Yes, it's the solenoid.

Mend it.
Try again.
Job done.

It's even easier if you say it fast.
A car solenoid will do the trick and costs less than OEM.

[Monkey man]

Ok guys at the risk of sounding dumb which one is the solenoid.? Is it the black thing which looks like a cage - dont want to short across the wrong device

[PHPaul]

Follow the positive battery cable. The heavy cable goes direct to the solenoid on the left side of the battery box. Another heavy lead goes from the other side of the solenoid to the starter.

[Coyote]

Upper left on the electrical panel. Round. 2 large wires. Jump those 2 lugs. The cage looking outfit is the rectifier.

[Monkey man]

Ok guys where did i go wrong ! I folliwed the advice and followed the red lead to what i believed was the solenoid - the connection was protected by a plastic shroud and i took this off to expose the nut and connection under to both the feed in and line out - i used jump leads to make the connection but was surprised by the sparks thst flew off it - better disconnect the battery and try again - this i did and after reconnecting the battery there were further sparks and smoke and i raced to quickly disconnect the jump leads only to find they had burnt through - lucky escape or what ?
Im tempted to givevup and just use it starting with the kick start

[rngdng]

Maybe you jumped the wrong thing. Send us a picture of what you shorted, and we will sort (rather than short) it out.



Lane

[Monkey man]

I'm struggling to up load photos each time I get s message saying it's too big

[jabcb]

The forum server doesn’t have any more space to store pics.

You need to upload the pics to a photo sharing site like Photobucket, and then include image links in your forum posts.

[Monkey man]

Sorry no pics - as the starter motor spins on the bench when connected to a battery how about i try putting it back on the bike and doing the same test from an external battery to see if it spins insitu. Would this give any indication of what is wrong ?

[PHPaul]

Sorry no pics - as the starter motor spins on the bench when connected to a battery how about i try putting it back on the bike and doing the same test from an external battery to see if it spins insitu. Would this give any indication of what is wrong ?

If you go directly from the external battery to the starter and the problem goes away, then yes, it would point to either a bad solenoid or a corroded/high resistance cable.

If the problem remains with the external battery and new/different cables, then it points to brushes, bearings/bushings or armature in the starter motor.

[74GT550]

Check your battery cables. I just replaced the positive cable that was rotten and now my starter runs fine.