Well, my new to me '82 g/s has two small issues - first is a starting issue: sometimes when I hit the starter button absolutely nothing happens - no "click-click" even. Other times, she starts right up. Can't determine any pattern to it - sometimes when she's warm, sometimes when she's cold - doesn't seem to make a difference. Any suggestions on where to look first - is this a starter issue, a starter button issue, or something else (btw battery is in good shape)? Second issue: all of a sudden the odometer and trip meter have stopped working, although the speedometer itself continues to work ok - is it fixable(palo alto?) or replace it?
Look at the relay....take it apart, clean the contacts..spray with contact cleaner...stick it back together and you're probably there.
I'd pop the top cover off the engine and check the voltage at the little spade lug on the starter solenoid ... see if the signal is getting lost before then or after then. Divide and conquer. -----sharks
Hi, ... under exactly the same conditions? In that case, the starter button is the first suspect. Open the unit (but do not disassemble the switch!), and apply some electronics contact cleaner. Just fwiw: remember that you have to be in neutral, and/or the clutch pulled in - otherwise the starter won't engage.
I'll try cleaning up the start button first and see what happens. Bike is definitely in nuetral but now that I think about it, working the clutch a few times seems to suddenly get the starter working - is there a way to clean/check the clutch/starter switch?
There may be several things, one of them is the switch that indicates "clutch is pulled" inside the clutch lever (a PITA to replace). From http://www.motobins.co.uk/services.php: "Does Your Boxer Neutral Lamp Flash when the clutch is disengaged? This means that the diode in the starter relay circuit has failed, and is short-circuited. The diode is built into the contact plate at the back of the headlamp shell (all twin-shock models except R45/65), contained within a black plastic cylindrical housing, plugged into the wiring below the starter relay (pre-'81 R45/65), or contained within the starter relay (all post-'81 R45/65 and Monolever models). Can't Start Your Boxer in Neutral? If you can only start by disengaging the clutch, but everything seems to work as it should, the starter relay diode has failed, becoming an open circuit, and must be replaced, as above."
Never hurts to go over all the electrical connections on your bike. Clean them up and use some dielectric grease on them. Start with the ground from the battery to the speedo cable bolt. JT
Sharkey indirectly touched on the 1st item of bidness: make friends with and obtain a basic VOM (Volt/Ohm Meter), available all over the place, cheap as hell for a basic 'wallet' model from Radio Shack. This is essential for yr toolkit anyway, so get one. You need to establish baselines: Batt ground cleanliness and voltage (12.5V at very least), then what's getting where and when. You can then check continuity (unobstructed current flow) of any switch, then check (per Sharks) that V is reaching the starter solenoid etc. The suggestion to carefully disassemble relays etc is a good one (do cheap/free potential cleaning fixes first) but if you do it willy-nilly you won't know what you're changing/fixing. Electrics have a funny way of 'improving' just by a laying-on of hands-- but that may not be fixing the root issue. You have to measure. "To measure is to know"
All good advice from above. On the odometer, after many years of shaking the wheels on the odometer have probably shaken loose. I have fixed several of these over the years either by 1) wapping a little wire around the end of the odometer shaft to tighten up the wheels. 2) put a little plastic spacer on the end of the shaft to hold the wheels closer togather or 3) found the geared wheel turning on the shaft. Remove the gear and using a vicegrip squeese a little spline on the shaft to keep the gear from turning or put a spot of silicone or JB weld on the gear/shaft. Go for it.
