Bad Starter?

[sartoriusrock]

For my first streetbike, I was able to get myself on a 1982 xs650 heritage special. After buying a pickup coil from another user of this forum (section8joe) i had finally gotten the bike running. However, after reassembly, the starter motor seems to be shot. Any ideas as to what's happening? I looked at the wiring and fuses, and they seem to be okay.

p.s. After running the bike I also attempted to recharge the battery after which I found out that I had a dead cell, and reconnected the headlight. could recharging it have something to do with it?

 

[XSLeo]

You need a good stock size battery that is fully chaged to get the starter to work well. A dead cell often is a result of not charging the battery. A battery self discharges. A few persent per week. If a battery sets long it goes dead. If not kept charged the battery will get to a point it won't take or hold a charge.
The charge rate of your charger should corespond to the batteries electrical rating. The stock size battery has about a 14 amp/hour rating. This means the battery when fully charged can support a load of 14 amps for one hour. Or 1.4 amps for ten hours.
The reccomended charge rate is 10% of it's amp/hour rating. In this case 1.4 amps is ideal. Most motorcycle chargers are 1.5 amp which works well. Too hgh a charge rate can over heat the battery, warping the plates and boiling out the water. This can short the plates.
So an old poorly charged battery is ikely a big part of the trouble. You might take your battery to a place that sells motorcycle batteries and have them load test your battery, the only good way to tell if your battery is no good.
Leo