Difficult start

Mightyman

Have you tried checking your battery? The fact that it's difficult to start when left for a night or so but easy to start when bumping or after a ride suggests to me Atleast that your batter isn't holding charge all that well. And as said a new plug is always a good first step when having trouble, even if it's sparking fine visibly.

Battery wouldn't affect kick starting it.

Calum

@Burridge I agree weird stuff definitely happens on a low battery, but it should bump no problems.

The other ones are if it's dependant on the batter and the fuse is a bit iffy, or the holder at least.

NINJA

@Uber_Beluga @Calum My bike came with a BR9ES plug in it, so I just swapped it for a BR9IX this weekend, thinking I was just swapping from a regular plug to an Iridium one. But boy have I noticed the difference! She pulls like an express train now and my previous best top speed was 72MPH, now I can get 78MPH. She still starts first kick 99.9% of the time and climbs up the rev range a lot faster, There is a bit more vibration coming through, so I'm guessing that the iridium part makes for a better spark? AKA a bigger bang, I hope that I'm not gonna do any long term damage??? ;O)

Uber_Beluga

@Calum
8 seems to be recommended heat range for my particular bike, I see it's 9 on some other DTs, seems strange that they would vary.
I've just ordered one of each heat range so I can try them out. I found them for around 10 pounds each (here and here) so relatively inexpensive in the grand scheme of things.
A quick google of preignition has me kind of scared of the 9. Even with the tempting attraction of making starting easier I think I'll avoid putting the 9 in if I can.

@Burridge
I'll give the battery a check anyway as I have a multimeter, I don't have a working starter motor in the bike at the moment (It's an RE model), but I'm hoping to pick one up when one appears on Ebay so might as well get a new battery if mine is no good.

EDIT: Just realised the higher the number for the heat range the cooler the plug, I guess I have nothing to worry about with either plug then, worst case scenario it just wont start.

Calum

Yeah I ran both, preignition is only going to really be an issue if you're getting into the tuning game. I'm sure those will be fine

Uber_Beluga

I think I made a little progress with the starting problem today.

I can confirm that there is no spark from the plug when kick-starting. Any ideas what could be causing no spark? The bike does run when I get it started by roll starting it, so it must spark sometimes.

I'll have another go next weekend, but any advice on where to start in advance would be appreciated

Uber_Beluga

I've spent more time on the no spark issue today. Got the new battery in and no change, that didn't really surprise me, but I wanted a new battery anyway given that the old one was only giving around 12.3v on a full charge.

I started going down a list of things to check that I found from this random video on YouTube. (Internet is my only source of knowledge)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjvnUIwQ33Y

First I checked my kill switch, it wasn't good. Full resistance switched on or off. If I caress the switch in just the right way, sometimes it works, but I'd rather not carry my multimetre with me everywhere I go, so off it goes.
They aren't cheap, so I'm probably going to try and fix the switch, simple enough electrics hopefully.

Now, question is, should I get a spark with that kill switch pulled from the bike, or will I need to bridge the connections that it plugged into? I didn't try that when I was outside, but thinking retrospectively that's probably what I should have done?

I went on to check the coil which caused more confusion, but I won't get into that until I've got the switch sorted.

Calum

@Uber_Beluga Bridge the connection.

The kill switch contacts have probably corroded. Try spray some electrical contact cleaner in there. Or dismantle it and rub the switch contcts down,

Uber_Beluga

Thanks Calum,

I'll get the switch sorted through the week and have it ready for next weeked to try again.

I spent about an hour trying to get a spark with that switch off the bike without even thinking that having it off was the same as having it not working. Feeling pretty thick right now.

Calum

@Uber_Beluga Not really

We've all been there. Live and learn.

Tobe fair, on my brothers DT, something was properly merssed up. You could only get a spark if you kicked the bike over, and turned the ignition on at the same time. I kid you not. Never got to the bottom of it.

Of course this was some time ago now.

Raydt

@Uber_Beluga
How many wires going up to the kill switch, usually only one and when the switch is closed it earth's out the low voltage side of the coil, so if it is disconnected and taped up it should not stop it from starting.

Uber_Beluga

4 wires, same connection as the starter button

From what I can tell, both the button and the switch produce infinate resistance when they're in their "off" position, but very little to no resistance when in the "on" position. The kill switch doesn't always go into the "on" posisiton so easy. (hence it's removal)

I don't think it's as you describe on my bike (06 RE), but hey, I could definately be wrong. I'm pretty lost with electronics.

Calum

@Uber_Beluga Infinite resistance?

Surely just an on off switch would cause infinite resistance since it is very difficult for Electricity to bridge the gap.

Raydt

@Uber_Beluga
So if you have four wires - one will be an ign. Switched live to the starter switch. One will be the return wire to the starter solenoid.
Then the other two will be a feed up from the CDI and a return that either goes back to the CDI to make a circuit or maybe goes to earth as I mentioned before.
Just buzz the wires out with your meter to check what they do, but if you can get a good make/break across the switch then that's not you problem.

DT125R FORUM

Difficult start