Another problem rf600r

[Daz1245]

Does anyone else have times where it's problem after problem with their bike ? Fixed oil leak yesterday with new filter and now my starter relay is on it's way out again this will be my 3rd one within a year, does anyone know why these are fucking up? Am I doing anything wrong ?

1st one I changed had melted, the second just stopped working and now this one is intermittent and takes ages to start the bike, it does click at the press of the electric start but no go
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Current: 1994 Suzuki rf600r
Cagiva mito evo 3 2002, Yamaha xvs125 2000, skyjet sj-125 Chinese piece of crap

[Nobby the Bastard]

I'd be checking the earth from the relay closely.
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Sprint ST 1050

[Daz1245]

[bugeye_bob]

are you buying genuine replacements or cheap copies ?

[Daz1245]

[jaffa90]

What`s the battery voltage before starting and when pressing the button using the neg/earth probe on the frame / engine?

[Pete.]

As Nobby said check the terminals on the battery, the solenoid, the starter post and (most especially) the heavy black lead that returns from the engine to the battery. Don't just look at them - undo the bolt/nut, inspect the faces.

How long do you crank the engine before it fires up?
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[Teflon-Mike]

Other one is the starter itself.

Solenoid's just a switch. If it goes toes up, it will usually be because either the bits inside that move have worn out from old age, OR they have been prompted to give up because of stress... which provided its the right rating for the job, it shouldn't see, unless something is sucking excess amps through it.

Starter motors have carbon brushes that make contact between teh fixed wires and the windings that go round inside the magnets. Those brushes are intended to wear out as they rub on the contacts on the rotor, and are usually spring loaded to take up the gap as they wear.

Meanwhile, as they wear out the carbon worn off the brush has to go some-where, and its often not very far... sits around the region it came from, and the dust will often bridge the gap between the contacts for individual windings on the rotor... NOW, that tracking means that instead of power going to one winding, two can suck amps... so you get a heavy current draw... but, at the same time, the winding that is sucking extra amps is reducing the volts on the one that should be getting it, so that cant pull its weight properly, whilst at the same time, making magnetic field thats not helping or worse, actually working against the winding its robbing amps from... SO the starter motor gets 'lazy' and greedy; and will start stressing solenoids, and batteries, both of which are the first targets for replacement... that don't 'fix' the problem, but the symptom.. and allow lazy greedy starter to carry on being lazy and greedy, actually getting worse, unfixed and stress the new battery and or solenoid.. which again gets the blame.....

I'd pull the starter.. strip, clean and if possible renew the brushes... often less than a £10 part they are cheaper than batteries and solenoids! AND eliminate that one from the list at source.

Upstreaming, pay attension to cabling, and particularly earths... starter tends to earth through the engine casing, to the earth strap between engine and frame, which is usually in a pretty crudprone zone, and wont to rot, whilst actual earth twixt starter and engine can get a bit iffy with corrosion creeping between the flats it bolts to....

BUT, your the one that's done a pretty paint make-over on the thing, aren't you? Hmmm.... paint is a pretty good insulator, and as bad as corrosion for reducing effectiveness of earth points...... very very common post reno niggle, is having to go back over all the earth points with emery to remove lovingly applied paint from earth points, clean the contact, re-attatch and wetproof with vascelene... A-N-D those earth points aren't all obviouse ones where wires end.. you may have to undo engine mounts, tilt motor and scrape paint from engine and frame to get a good earth contact between them, maybe even ream out engine mounting holes so that you get a good contact between casing and the bolt that goes through it.

It's snaggling stuff, that takes time and patience, and annoyingly often more time than the paint, to make the job work good, rather than just look good.
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