SCURA WONT START

[GED 01]

first things first, b4 the search police nab me,i have done a search and still need help,,,i will try to be as brief as poss,

2 weeks ago i started up the guzz to go to work and pressing the starter the engine reluctantly turned over ,and the engine fired up,a day later went to start the guzz and all i got was a lethargic half a a turn of the ring gear and tick tick sound coming from the solenoid/starter area sounded like a woodpecker.i think its the starter i cleaned it out with contact cleaner and cleaned off the bush faces,also cleaned of the electrical power conector from the battery ,and charged the battery,the bike started [although it didnt spin round as fast as it used to b4 firing up],only to find the day after back to squre 1 no start tick tick again ,so i bought a new wesco battery ,and replaced the relays ,all of em,,,and still the bike wont turn over apart from the starter seems to turn the ring gear slightly then tick ticking noise,

could the solenoid be fooked,the bike only done 8ooomiles ,or is there another area i need to look at,any help would be great as i dont want t waste any more time or money barking up the wrong tree,,,

 

ps this may be relevent but ,mid september these problems slowly surfaced ie,as each day passed i noticed that the sterter would turn the engine slower and slower up until as i said she let me down and wouldnt start ,,,,,,cheers Ged

[guzzijack]

Check the battery - look on the various related threads here.

 

GJ

[GED 01]

Definitely sounds battery-ish to me. Do you have good connections at the battery terminals, starter solenoid, and battery ground cable? Any corrosion there? You want clean, snug connections everywhere.

hi mate thanks for the reply,first im 99.9% sure it aint the battery its brand new and ive tested it and its holding a strong charge,the connectors at the battery are clean and secure as are the ones connected to the starter and solenoid with no corrosion,you say the ground cable ,i havnt checked it yet ,but it is now on my "new" list of things to do,cheers

[felix42o]

hi mate thanks for the reply,first im 99.9% sure it aint the battery its brand new and ive tested it and its holding a strong charge,the connectors at the battery are clean and secure as are the ones connected to the starter and solenoid with no corrosion,you say the ground cable ,i havnt checked it yet ,but it is now on my "new" list of things to do,cheers

 

Try exposing the terminals on the battery cables where they clamp to the cables themselves. Mine were clean at the battery, but corroded all to hell under the shrink wrap. Good luck!

[slowkitty]

Why not try jump-starting it with a car, then you can eliminate the battery issue first?

 

Starter solenoid?

 

Cheers

 

Cat

[docc]

Before you spike the voltage with a jump-start, what is the voltage on your new battery? (Turn the headlamp on for three minutes then off for five and check voltage).

 

Also, what type of relays did you replace with?

[GED 01]

as i said i dont think its the battery ,,ive tried 3 at the worst 1 battery was showing 12.75v my new one was showing 13v ive also tried jump starting all to no avail ,to be honest its got me stumped ,when i get in from work tonight i will check the ground but i feel that it will prove to be ok,

the relays i got of dan cant remember the make

[pasotibbs]

as i said i dont think its the battery ,,ive tried 3 at the worst 1 battery was showing 12.75v my new one was showing 13v ive also tried jump starting all to no avail ,to be honest its got me stumped ,when i get in from work tonight i will check the ground but i feel that it will prove to be ok,

the relays i got of dan cant remember the make

 

I would have said battery also, so I think I'd now try to power the starter directly off another battery(if there is room a jump lead may go onto the solenoid, but great care would be needed to avoid arc welding ! and remember to have the bike out of gear ) This would eliminate all the bikes wiring,relays etc, and if it works then you can work back from there ?

[motoguzznix]

When the battery is ok and the relays are replaced, the starter motor itself is suspect. It is well known the stator magnetos can come loose thus preventing the starter to crank over.

If the magnetos are not distroyed too much they can be reglued with a special adhesive for metals. Do it the right way as the magnetos need to be located in the same position than before.

[Richard]

If you've eliminated all battery/connection issues, my money would be on the starter/solenoid. More likely the motor, due to the gradual decrease in performance. If it were the solenoid, they usually just fail....

[stogieBill]

GED,

 

My money's still on the battery or connections. Ground is prime suspect, then the connection to the starter.

 

Good luck, I know how frustrating finding a short/loose connection can be.

 

[Bruce Reader]

I had same issues with my starter (same symptoms) on the Scura around same age. Warranty replaced with no change to battery or relays- fixed problem.

 

Sounds like you have ruled out other traditional/likely causes for your problem.

 

Cheers

 

Bruce

[macguzzi]

From one scura owner to another your starter solinoid is knackered other problem could be your alarm system if you have one two wires will be attached to the starter motor load side, these are very thin wires and cannot cope with the high current

[GED 01]

first id like to say thanks for the replys to my plea for help,much appreciated,,right ive just been over the guzz the batt as been on charge all day ,,my maximiser says it is fully charged and that the batt is in good condition and able to hold a charge,i then try to start it on the button ,,same as b4,slight movment in the ring gear then click click bloody click,so i connect the starter direct to the batt,no more click click and the engine is cranking over,"BUT" very very slowly for about 3 seconds then it turns no more,its as though the battery is totally dead,now i havnt looked at the earth cable,and im pretty certain the battery is ok,and the relays and switches are fine ,that leaves the solenoid and starter,is it possible that the starter is failing and the soli has failed,both at the same time,and why does the battery sound and act flat ,is it somthing to do with the failing parts require more current from the battery than it can supply.i did phone moto mecca today and was told the valeo starter is very reliable apart from the bushes coming un-glued and the soli hasnt failed due to the fact that it is clicking,my reply was that if the soli had some sort of conectors inside that had worn or become dirty or damaged in any other way would thay not need a hell of a lot more currant than the battery can supply to make it operate and that the power the solinoid can be supplied with is limited then it would fail to work properly and go click click,to that i got the answer i may have a point ,so once again can anyone shed any light to my problem,am i right to assume that the starter solonoid or earth are now favourites to be the cause of my problems ,,,or is there a strange guzzi wiring connector hidden away somwhere that always fails but somone forgot to tell me, ps it as got an alarm datatool thatcham 1 but it as no small wire going to the starter,anyhow tomorrow i will remove the tank and check all the wiring and once again thanks for your help so far cheers

[guzzi323]

I recently had a very similar problem on my Scura's starter (what is it about Scura's? They seem to be the most cursed of recent Guzzi's). My battery was somewhat questionable anyway so I replaced it at the start. No difference so I pulled the starter to bench test it. Sometimes the solenoid would actuate and sometimes not so I figured it was he solenoid. After replacing that it was the same. The problem ended up being a broken brush spring was only able to hold the brush against the rotor on occasion.

After replacing that all's been well.

I hope this helps.

 

johnk