Replacing solenoid / starter relay.

Replacing solenoid / starter relay.

As mentioned before I have had trouble starting the bike using the ignition button. It went from starting but not sounding the most high pitched like others to starting then deciding not to start to now just clicking & nothing. Obviously I've been using the kickstart, & that is one of this bikes saving graces. If it was one of the newer bikes without the kickstart, well...I think that would be obvious.

Three of the main things that could be a problem when it comes to this issue is:

• a). the battery
• b). the solenoid / starter relay (or fuse)
• c). the starter motor itself

 

My battery is fine and I even fully charged it to test the issue to no avail. It was even just past the 12v on the gauge before hand and then jumps towards 15v when started anyway. Next, I thought well the starter motor was turning recently even though it's not starting and a bit lackluster, so maybe it's the solenoid / starter relay that's faulty?

I watched through a few you tube vids with car / bike engines and a few turned out to be the Solenoid / starter relay. A new solenoid / starter relay was about £12.00 new for the bike on eBay, if I went to a garage to check it out, it's likely I would've paid £20.00 upwards just for them to get their multimeter out to see if it was faulty or not (since we found out you would have to remove a panel to get at it maybe even more). So what the heck, I would be better off buying the new solenoid for £12.00. If it's ok after then it's fixed. If not I've got two (a spare) & found out the solenoid is fine after all for less than I would've paid to get it checked to tell me the same outcome, seeing as I should be able to do the work myself. 

It turns out just that, that although the replacement was successful the new solenoid had the same issue as the previous one, in that it just buzzed / clicked when the ignition was pressed. So it looks as though I'll be looking for a replacement starter motor, & that will likely grace these blogs in future although I'm in no real rush I do have the kick-start for now.  

I'll go through a few points here but, below I'll include a you tube video showing the process of replacing the solenoid:

Finding the solenoid.

Finding a solenoid / starter relay is usually as such; the solenoid is either right next to or on top of the starter motor itself or near by the battery. In our case it's near the battery. I actually noticed the plastic connector clip down by the battery & followed the wire straight to it in the left side rear fairing panel. Now obviously you need to remove the panel WHAT A PAIN, it's not like just opening the bonnet of a car now is it? 

Well, I haven't gotten around to removing these rear panels yet so we'll take a look how it's done.

First off, you will need to remove the steel coloured plug with the hex / allen key. Yes, that doubles as a fixing bolt, as well as a plug to mount your bungee cord / cargo net hooks etc. Then remove the screw from the faring clip just around to the side of it. Then that big screw at the front most part, then the grab handle / luggage rack bolts will need to be removed. Now you can get away (if you watch the video) with just pulling it forward enough now to get the solenoid out. I you wish to remove the whole panel (it's the same on the other side), there's a screw underneath the same as the other fairing screw you removed earlier and you will need to remove the rear light by the bolt then remove two small screws at the top (see pictures below).

You will find that the solenoid connects by being inside a rubber sheath, which in turn connects to the chassis the same way the CDI unit did, by sliding onto pins protruding from the chassis. However, you can slide the old one out of it's sheath, take the new one out of it's sheath also & just pop it straight into the old rubber sheath without having to try to prise it off. Believe me it's on tight! Plus it's awkward without removing the whole panel.

Obviously then, you have the plug to connect and the wires (correct polarity) will have to go on the new one exactly as they were the old one. We live in an age where we have digital cameras even on our phone, so if you're unsure take a pic before removing the wires to make sure it's on correctly like the old one. If not you can check on the video.

Now, I can't see a fuse (usually like an little coloured auto / car fuse) anywhere near that solenoid but maybe I'll trace the otherside to that plastic connector, where the wire leads in the other direction. It would be wise to check for one before buying the starter motor in case it's blown. Lexmoto do list a little red 10 amp auto fuse on it's spares page. I will have one of those in the shed but, in all honesty it was turning the motor while not very well at one point, it couldn't do that with a blown fuse. So if there is a blown fuse it's very, very recent and was burnt out due to the issue to start with.

Over the otherside.

While the luggage box was off and we knew how to get the rear panels off now, I decided with the future alarm install in mind, to remove the panel the other side to take a look for that connector plug.

Once again to no avail, if it really is here it must be between that glove box layer and that very underneath piece above the wheel. I don't want to call it a mudguard, as it isn't your usual for a mudguard  But I really couldn't see how to detatch that with a glance, there were two gold bolts towards the rear but I couldn't make out anything else. And I needed to get it back together before dark to use tomorrow.

Anyway, it appears the voltage regulator is there on that side as is the indicator/signal flasher unit. I assume it's the flasher unit since it looks exactly like the ones advertised in spares for the bike, it does also look a lot like one of them bigger black fuse boxes you see in cars though (below).

Now, I have the newer two pin version of the voltage regulator rectifier here, with the red and white plugs. That is a pain, as I bought one as a spare for the bike a while back and they sent me the single plug version. So I can't use that.

So I'm still using the kick start for bit but, much extra knowledge gained.