Desperate for starter buttons help.

[mr110]

Hi all,

I have a 1980 xs650SG and i cannot figure out that dang starter button. I was having zero feed back so i started at the starter and tested every wire, relay, solenoid, and even the starter. It all lead me to the blue and white wire running directly from the starter solenoid back to the start button. and it all seemed good there.

I read that it is supposed to ground to the handle bars, then to the riser, then to the frame. So i ground that section of black paint from my bars. Still nothing. Then i realized that the risers are in a bushing so no contact is being made to the triple tree or to the frame. ni can hear the solenoid click over when i jump it to the frame so i know its doing its job.

What am i missing?
It started before i changed the bars and now i cannot figure it out.

Also to note is that when i turn on the ignition my head light turns on and doesnt seem to ever turn off, even when trying to auto start/ kick the bike over...what would cause that to happen?

thanks.

 

[Dave48]

The blue/white wire is grounded to the handle bars thru the switch housing when you push the start button. You need to make sure your switch housing is making contact with the handle bars and your handle bars are grounded. It sounds like you grounded the bars but not the switch housing to the bars.

 

[mr110]

It seems that I am making contact to the bars as well. How are the bars grounded if then are sitting in risers that are mounted in bushings. So they too aren't making contact to the frame.

 

[5twins]

The start button grounds to the bars. That ground is carried through the bars over to and into the left switch housing. There is a black wire in there that carries and makes the ground to a wire in the headlight. Clean the paint off the bars where the left switch housing makes contact too. If you look at your switch housings, you'll see a little metal clip in the bottom half where the housing clamps to the bars. Besides clamping the wire harness in, this carries the ground to or from the bars .....

 

[Dave48]

I don't know if your bike has been modified from original. I also have an 80 special and my stock risers bushings are made of all metal so there is continuity. The upper triple tree should have a ground wire to the frame. On my bike that's all that's needed to ground the front end section. You indicated in your original post that the new handle bars were black. That black coating will not make contact with the switch housing.

 

[SinisterMatti]

I had a starter button issue recently. After a lot of troubleshooting I discovered that the contact inside the spring on the button had broken off so pushing the button on the starter switch wasn't completing the ground. I don't know if you may have a similar issue, but I figured it was worth throwing out there.

 

[joebgd]

I'm having trouble installing the start but to . Does anyone have an exploded view? It's a button a spring and a metal cylinder. I tried cylinder in button before spring and I tried cylinder inside spring. The button doesn't work. It is not pushing in. I got it from mikesxs.

 

[xjwmx]

The way I remember it the spring is conical and it and the button go in a little housing. When you push the button the spring is part of the path. If the spring was upside down I think it would prevent the button from pushing in very far.

P.S. Something to be on the lookout for -- if the spring is bent or misaligned a little bit it will make the circuit the same as if the button was pushed. I discovered this when I turned the key on and the bike took off by itself, since I park it in gear. To this day I don't turn the key without pulling the clutch first.

 

[SinisterMatti]

If you want my honest advice, just replace it. I disassembled, reassembled, cleaned, and fixed my starter button over and over, but it just kept going wrong. You can pick up a brand new plug and play assembly for around $60 over at mikes xs. I finally did that and never had a problem with the starter button again.

 

[tzimmerm]

I just replaced the starter button on my ‘77. I knew I should have taken some pictures when I was doing it. At first, I had trouble getting the button in too. I was trying to just fit the button in the hole in the switch housing; Then I realized what I was doing wrong- I figured out you have to unscrew a small phillips head screw, and pull out the entire little metal “box” around where the button goes, the pieces of metal that the wires are soldered to. There are two pieces. You pull the whole thing out and bend the metal “box” slightly where the “top” is notched into a little slit. Be careful handling all of this so you don’t break any brittle wires or solder. You put the plastic button INSIDE the metal assembly, and THEN carefully push the whole Thing back into its place in the switch housing. It’s kind of tricky; you have to get it angled JUST right for the plastic button and all to fit. I used the original spring, not the one that came with mikes plastic button.

 

[joebgd]

Yea I see all that, I have the assembly in and out at least 5 times and there is no movement in the button.

 

[xjwmx]

Does the button move when the assembly is out? Maybe the assembly isn't going in right and it makes the button bind.

 

[joebgd]

Got it. Thanks all. It was on outside of contact I didn't realize it needed to be fully assemble then in housing. I had button in the housong