Topic: Starter button/starter solenoid

[scottly]

Update. Jim has narrowed his problem down to the neutral circuit. His neutral light is also always on. His next step will be to disconnect the SMSU. If the light goes out, that's the problem. If the light stays on, he will disconnect the LG/R wire from the neutral sw. If it's still on, then he has other issues with the wiring of the lamp.

[Jim F]

Thanks Scott for all your help in making this a little easier (for me) to understand

For all of you that are having troubles with your starter button, there could be more underlying troubles that you need to check first
and if your intimidated about how to check the wiring like I am then this is for all of you.

1, obviously you need to check to make sure your getting good contact at the button

2, If you in project mode like I am and you have just connected all of your wires from the main harness, check the to make sure
your safety switch at the clutch side controls is operating. (Continuity check)

3, check your neutral safety switch that's under the motor. This has a ball detente type of switch that could get stuck as I think mine is
thus keeping the neutral light on all of the time

4, make sure that your starter solenoid is good and your wires are getting the correct voltage to the solenoid. You can go back to the first page of this posting, down towards the bottom and the is a good explanation of how to check the voltage at the solenoid.
Thanks Spanner 1 for that info

5, make sure your battery is charged and showing 12 volts

As on my bike, even in neutral, I have to pull in the clutch in to start which isn't a bad thing but I do have to check to see why the neutral
light is staying on all the time and thanks to Scott and Spanner 1 for all the info, this isn't going to be as daunting of a task as I thought

thanks guys

Jim

[Spanner 1]

Jim, your N light problem ( staying on ) might be as simple as the connector at the N switch ( under the motor ) is touching the motor as well as being under the conn. screw. A gentle 'bend' away from the motor casing ( ground ) may be needed....The N switch is just a ground to make the N bulb light, in other words when the bike is in N the switch connects that green/red wire to ground.... if you disconnect the g/r wire and the N light stays on, then the r/g wire is grounded ( trace along it looking for bare spots ) or the DIODE in the N/ clutch circuit is shorted ( my money is on that option !) .............The diode is in that red/green wire, looks like an auto type blade fuse.

[scottly]

Jim, if the neutral sw were stuck, or the wire going to it shorted to ground, the bike would always start, whether it is actually in neutral or not. Spanner, this is a K5, which has a 5 wire SMSU. The diode was first used on the K8.
Jim, if the problem is indeed the smsu, I think you can easily add a diode to your existing harness without any cutting or splicing.

Step1: Disconnect the smsu and see if the light goes out.