Starter makes big click, but nothing after that??

[DonW]

Hi again. Battery seems OK (12.7 volts) and the voltage DOESN'T drop when I hit the starter button- My guess is that the solenoid isn't pulling back far enough to make the connection?

Suggestions? I pulled, cleaned, and put this starter back a few weeks ago. Worked fine until yesterday. I have another starter on the bench, but want to figure this out before I willy nilly start replacing things.

D

[Kurt in S.A.]

What about the starter relay? If that doesn't latch, then the starter isn't hooked to the battery through the larger diameter wire. Start with the easy stuff first. If you worked over the starter and it was working, I'd be looking somewhere else. Unless a junction/bolt has come loose in the meantime.

Kurt in S.A.

[Jean]

Check the BATTERY connection(s). My R75 did a similar thing and it turned out to be a broken +lug at the battery. Enough current could flow to get the relay to pull-in but not enough to turn the starter.
Of course, I didn't discover this right away. AND the wiring is in EXCELLENT condition NOW.
Not that that helped anything until I found the broken lug.

[DonW]

I have to pull things apart, but pretty sure I'm getting current to the solenoid (big click), so the starter relay is working. I'll know more this evening.

[DonW]

Damn I'm dumb sometimes. Turns out, as predicted above, it was a "not tight enough" positive battery connection. And I re-built my spare starter before I messed with the bike, so now I have a spare "just in case".

Don

[Jean]

It takes only a little current to pull-in a relay or even the starter solenoid, compared to what it takes to turn the starter.
A loose connection can accumulate crud and corrosion and make a poor connection too.
A fellow R75 rider at a rally a couple of years ago was on the verge of calling for a trailer as his bike was doing the same thing. I told him to check the battery connections (as mine had broken...) He found his broken...we fixed it with a jumper and he rode home.
Next year he was going around the camp telling everyone how I could fix ANYTHING.
Ain't true.

[DonW]

Well, mine was easier (and dumber) than that. It was just not tight. I just touched it, the cable turned a tad, and bike started right up. duhhhhh

[Jean]

OK. At least you didn't do anything MORE stupid like tearing into the starter again!!
Both Kurt and I said check for a loose cable and you did...
Hope you didn't consume ALL your beer before you needed to celebrate.

[Duane Ausherman]

We got so many bikes in that had some starter difficulty. Maybe they came in for something else, but also had a fault in getting the starter to turn.

I would estimate that at least 75%, maybe more, would respond to just wiggling the two cables on the battery. Most were either loose, or tight enough but with corrosion. Moving them would rub through the crud and it would turn again. Some were due to the really cheap terminal crimping done by BMW's contractor. Those cables would start failing within a year or two.

Glad that you found it.