[Hans&Feet]

Did you order a "Starter Motor"??? Installed it???

 

[House O' Pain]

Did you order a "Starter Motor"??? Installed it???

Got a rebuilt one, and will try to install it if you think it might make a difference. Engine was turning over before, but not now. Feels like I'm making things worse, honestly but not sure how. I really at having to motivate myself to mess with this anymore, but I'll keep trying, and meanwhile will make an appointment for the shop, as they are busy months out.

 

[Hans&Feet]

When your lithium battery jump box died it was the consensus that the starter motor was shorted .. Higher current demand drops the cranking voltage, not enough voltage for the ignition to produce sparks

 

[Lou_VTX]

UPDATE: Replacement front and rear coils installed. Press starter with fully charged battery and hear a few clicks, then nothing. Think I'm just going to have the bike towed to a shop, & pay a crapload of money for someone who knows what they're doing. I don't have what it takes to spend weekend after weekend frustrating myself with this nightmare.

Don't give up. We'll get it figured out.
It sure can be frustrating and when that happens, stepping back and away for a few days might help. Or getting encouragement from friendly forums. Whatever works.

Did you order a "Starter Motor"??? Installed it???

Got a rebuilt one, and will try to install it if you think it might make a difference. Engine was turning over before, but not now. Feels like I'm making things worse, honestly but not sure how. I really at having to motivate myself to mess with this anymore, but I'll keep trying, and meanwhile will make an appointment for the shop, as they are busy months out.

I had been wanting to inquire whether you had pursued the starter troubleshooting path. I guess now I have my answer.
Let us know what you find, your description of the symptoms really got me believing that the starter has some issues.

 

[House O' Pain]

When your lithium battery jump box died it was the consensus that the starter motor was shorted .. Higher current demand drops the cranking voltage, not enough voltage for the ignition to produce sparks

Well, I bought the coils and the starter on the same day, and only installed the coils 1st because they were easier. The coils wern't that expensive or hard to install, so I just went for it. Looks like to install the starter I have to pull off the radiator, from what I can tell, so that's why I didn't do the starter first.

Thanks for keeping the info coming, and sorry I'm such a whiner about all this, but so far this is the most frustration I've ever with anything I've ever come across with a bike.

 

[Harkon]

Well, I bought the coils and the starter on the same day, and only installed the coils 1st because they were easier. The coils wern't that expensive or hard to install, so I just went for it. Looks like to install the starter I have to pull off the radiator, from what I can tell, so that's why I didn't do the starter first.

Thanks for keeping the info coming, and sorry I'm such a whiner about all this, but so far this is the most frustration I've ever with anything I've ever come across with a bike.

Wish I could be there to help out. I feel your frustration, and totally get it.

 

[DrDolittle]

...

 

[Hans&Feet]

Removal of Radiator and the starter motor.

 

[Lou_VTX]

Wish I could be there to help out. I feel your frustration, and totally get it.

Same here, I love wrenching, I would offer help but airline tickets are not cheap and you can get the starter replaced before I can even get trough TSA.
From Hans' FSM pictures, it seems pretty easy to swap the starter. Besides dealing with coolant.

 

[House O' Pain]

Removal of Radiator and the starter motor.

This is very much appreciated. I happen to have the VTX Shop manual, but had I not these would have definitely come in handy.

What would be of great help at this point is a step-by-step of what do do, and check once the starter is installed before I start pressing the start button to see what happens. What I'd hate to have happen is report back I pressed the starter and nothing happened and then I get, "Did you check X" first, and then make sure X, Y, Z, before you tried to start?"

I can check what the multimeter shows on the battery 1st, for instance, and maybe then what the coils show.....I have no idea what I'm doing so this is why I ask.

Thanks.

 

[Harkon]

I haven't gone back to re-read everything. When you try to turn it over, do you hear a click? That would be the starter relay/solenoid. Likely, then it's okay. Remove the starter cable from the solenoid terminal and measure the voltage there when the solenoid clicks. Should be the battery voltage. You could check the starter resistance (ohms scale) as you have a new starter to compare it to, but you will have to use the same measuring points on the new and the old to get a good comparison. It will be a very small number so and dirt or extra wires will affect the reading. I'm not sure what the resistance should be but I'd expect somewhere about 0.2 to 0.25 ohms. Your multimeter may not go that low, but if it does, make sure you just short the multimeter leads together and zero out the reading, it subtract that number from the reading.

If your current starter motor is a lot lower then it's a good bet.

 

[Hans&Feet]

Rebuilt starter, rather interesting. Seems unusual that a rebuilt starter motor even exists.

1. Your 4 wheel vehicle, with jumper cables, Negative to motor housing or frame bolt.
2. Have transmission in NEUTRAL and apply Positive voltage to starter motor stud/bolt.
3. It should crank up at a good speed.
4. For easy access I would pull the starter motor cable off of the starter relay/solenoid
and apply the positive voltage to the starter motor cable.

Do the same for the other starter motor.
Compare the arcing/sparking, cranking speed.
You could also measure the voltage from the donor vehicle while each is cranking.

You could also turn the Ignition ON so see if it wants to run.
The MC battery powering the electronics only.
The 4 wheel vehicle to provide power to the starter motor only.

If you do not want to use the donor battery than just replace the starter motor.

 

[House O' Pain]

😲FINALLY AN UPDATE...FIXED AND RUNNING!

It looks like it was a bad starter all along. Based on Han's tips mostly, on what to check and how, (thanks to everyone else too) I finally narrowed it down to the starter. I bought a replacement starter from DB Electrical and tested it before installing it and it fired right up. Pulled the stock starter and tested it and it was DEAD. After installing the replacement starter and buying yet another new battery, I fired it up this weekend (after changing out the coolant, due to having to pull the radiator to do the starter replacement) and it ran fine and started several times turning it off and back on.

The weather here is finally clear, (been raining for weeks) but the bike is really dusty and needs cleaning, so once it's all polished back up I'll be giving it the real testing by taking it to work and home daily to make sure all is as good as it seems in the garage.

I can' thank everyone enough for the help, and I did some PM's to Hans&Feet, who always was there to patiently offer much needed technical advice. IT WAS SOOOOO nice to hear my VTX start up and run like normal again, and it seems to be starting faster and cranking stronger than it has in years. It's the same battery as was in it for years so it may be the DB Electrical starter that's making the difference.

VROOOM VROOM!