Starting troubles
 

Hi folks!
I recently bought a xt600 from a fellow who couldn't get her to start, but could get it to turn over now and then by shaking the bike.

Anyway, i took it home and clean up the fouled spark plug (which is why it wouldn't start) and tried the whole shaking bussiness but it didn't work for me. I can however get it up and running by sticking a screwdriver in the soleniod. So it does start that way... and i've tested the continuity on the starting switch and its perfectly fine. And i've tried testing the wires in between the starting switch and the soleniod and i'm not positive, but i think its all okay. Most of the electrical in the bike is brand new anyway.

So if anyone has any suggestions to help me out i'd appreciate it, thanks.

Very simple:
Electricity needs to go from battery to ignition switch to starter button to solenoid magnet.
And from battery to solenoid contact to starter.

The screwdriver has proven function of the second circuit.

Take your test lamp and check if you have power at your ignition switch.
Then check for power at the starter button.
Then check if you get anything through to the solenoid mangnet.

Once you realised that it's sometimes better to put the friggin' beeping and flashing diode testing multimeter away and use grandpa's tools you will find the culprit witin five minutes.

Have fun!

Yep.

If the wiring looks / tests good, go through the connections. Use contact cleaner if you can lay your hands on some, bit of wet & dry on all the contacts you can get to, otherwise unplug and replug everything a few times. Don't forget the earth connection. The wires might be fine, but if you've got massive resistance in the connectors, nothing is going to work, and relays / solenoids not tripping is a good example of this - your electronic tester will tell you that you have 12V, but not the current you're getting. Remember, I = V/R, so if you have a lot of resistance you won't have enough current to trip the solenoid.

Your multimeter can be useful, though, at least for testing the switchgear -
rather than using a continuity check, do a resistance check. It should be infinite when the switch is not activated, and as close to zero as possible when activated. If not, dismantle the switch, contact cleaner, wet & dry, etc...

Electrics are a shit to debug, especially on bikes where you get a lot of shit and bugs in the electrics :)

Simon

Useful webpage
 

An eloquent description Tufty!
You might want to look at:-
Dan's Motorcycle

You could cross reference to it and save yourself some typing?

It's part of a webpage that I referenced here a short time ago:-
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...al-stuff-27640