Starter Issue

[kgm]

Morning all,

My 2001 CG125 has had an issue with the electric start for quite a while now but it's so easy to kick start I haven't really bothered with it. I had the carb off the other day as it had developed a leak (now fixed and running fine) so decided to have a look at the electric start issue while I was at it.

Basically when thumbing the starter the relay just clicks rapidly. I'm struggling to narrow down the cause but have already considered the following:

Battery is fine - it's reasonably new and charged, and I've tried a battery from another bike that works fine - same problem.
Heavy leads are brand new, connections are tight, clean and free of corrosion.
There are no accessories connected to the battery
Starter motor has been cleaned and new brushes fitted (including the plate)
Continuity exists between the commutator rings, doesn't exist between the rings and the shaft (as manual states should be the case)
Starter motor turns fine by hand, everything is aligned properly.
Starter gear turns freely
Earth points checked and all are fine.

I haven't tried jump leading to the starter directly yet as the mrs is away with them in the car at the moment.


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Possibly, possibly not related:
It does have an intermittent issue with the neutral light - the switch is new and the connection clean but I figured that was down to the little contact inside the case being slightly bent as it tends to come on when there's a little heat in the engine. Even when the light is on the starter doesn't work. I also discovered yesterday that the clutch switch has been bypassed - previous owner has fitted a clutch lever housing from an older model which didn't have space for a clutch switch, hence the bypass. The bypass is a decent job though and clearly works as nothing happens at all when when thumbing the starter with that disconnected. In any case it's been that way for years without me realising and the starter did work before - I figured the brushes were just getting worn when it started to fail. GIving it a thump with a mallet used to work, no longer.

Electronics really isn't my strong point however I do have a multimeter if anyone has any suggestions that require it's use.

[Monkeywrenche...]

[kgm]

[kgm]

No other suggestions? Solenoid didn't arrive today so don't expect I'll get it until Monday now.

[Hong Kong Phooey]

Bypass everything and whack 12v from battery direct to starter terminals.
You'll need a bit of decent sized cable. If it works you know the starter is good.
____________________
'81 CG125, '97 FZS600 : '99 CBR600F4, '09 KTM RC8

[jaffa90]

[Monkeywrenche...]

is the starter relay the kind with two thick cables bolted/screwed to the outside, if so remove those and touch them together, if it starts the bike it's likely a relay fault.
____________________
2001 Aprilia RSV Mille R -dead, 2016 XSR 700-gone, 2018 Dorsoduro 900

[WD Forte]

First thing I'd do is as suggested, bypass the solenoid with jump leads
If it spins over smartly doing that, it's the soleniod.

If that doesn't fix it:
Check/clean the grounding cables from engine to frame and battery negative terminal.

Hopefully it's an easy fix, if not the following is a possibilty

Just looked at a pic of a CG starter and see like the CX starter it grounds via the 'ass end' (technical term)
Some CXs suffered despite new brushes and grounding because the ass end wasnt making good contact with the main body which the ground brush is connected to.
The fix and what I do to my starters
was to connect the ground brush lead directly to the ass end with a bolt or rivet
I use a 3mm pop rivet

explanation

https://motofaction.org/motorcycles/honda-cx-gl/starter-motor-ground-earth-mod-justification/
____________________
bikers smell of wee

[kgm]