Hey guys, I've been having a bit of trouble lately getting the old girl going. It always starts, but lately there has been a delay before anything happens when I hit the starter. My first thoughts are a bad connection somewhere. I'm gonna clean up what connections I can, but here's what I need to know: when looking at the back of the starter (from the right hand side of the bike) there are two treaded posts. the bottom on is pretty dirty, looks like nothing was ever on it, the top one though looks like new, so I'm wondering if there was a ground on it that maybe fell off. Do one of you guys know, or could you possibly look? Thanks.

Oh yeah, it's a '09 FLSTC...

 

I think you are describing the studs that hold the nuts that secure the end cap on the starter...

When you press the starter button, do you hear any noise before the engine starts to crank?

Faint click?

Loud metallic click?

Make sure the battery is healthy and fully charged.

Make sure the battery is disconnected before you start checking the wires.

Check the connections to the starter relay.

Check the connections at the starter and battery.

The connections on your starter are in very tight quarters, because of the oil tank, but you need to make sure they are clean and secure (it will be slightly less than fun).

You can also remove the cover from the end of the solenoid and check the contacts inside, it is the odd shaped cover, not round.

 

Thanks, I'm half way through your list... and no, there is no noise at all. I hit the starter, then nothing... then a few seconds later everything comes to life. The battery is 3 years old, but seems to turn the engine over just fine.

 

Bad connection. Tighten all pos and neg bat cables.

 

Yeah, that's what I figure, gonna get back at it soon, but haven't found a bad one yet. It's been a while since I've had the switch housing apart, is it possible, or likely that the problem is in behind the start button itself?

 

Carefull not to over tighten the pos stud on the starter. It will rotate the solinoid contact in the starter.

 

So... After I cleaned all starter related connections (even as far as cleaning all the fuses), I put it all back together and it seemed a little worse. I then pulled apart the swith housing (pita by the way, with the chrome master cylinder cover and all that bs), managed to break the chrome start switch cover ($50 for the set, can't buy just one, knew I was gonna break it, but said f- it, done good to get it on without breaking it...) and worked some WD-40 into the switch. A little tricky since it's more or less a sealed switch, but after working it back and forth enough, I seemed to have gotten some in. So anyways, the starter seems to kick in instantly now, so hopefully that was the problem, and I don't get it back together tomorrow and it starts doing it again. Oh, and figured it was worth a try to JB weld the switch cover, so I'll get up early and try it, if not, off to HD after work...
Hope you guys had more fun with your bikes tonight then I did.

 

Workin on them is a lot more fun when you don't have to, isn't it? Let's hope you got it solved.

 

that was my pic the starter button, glad you have it fixed

 

Yeah, i hope so... chrome button cover had to be ordered, so never got to try it properly. Hope I got enough WD-40 in there...