748 Won't Start
 

Hi Folks,
Not been out on the bike for a few weeks thought I'd crank it up. To start with it turned over fine, but no firing sure enough after about 20 seconds the starter slowed until it virtually stopped, follwed by a very light whisp of white smoke from the +ve battery teminal wiring (I think).
Charged the battery with a drip charger, the thing is now fully charged,measures 12.8v over the terminals, lights work, indicators etc no problem, but when you push the starter all I'm getting is a click from the starter solenoid and nothing else....any ideas ?
I have checked all the fuses all OK and can't see any damaged / melted wiring at all, the battery was new last Feb and it's a bosch one cost me £80 n'all fugger :(

Is the fuel pump running when you turn the ignition on? If not, could be relay.
Also check the kill switch...... ;)

Have you checked the battery terminals are clean??
Possibly a dirty / corroded contact from the symptoms you describe & the smoking terminal.

If it were mine I'd turn the ignition on and then short out the starter solinoid with a big screwdriver

If it turns over then and possibly starts there is nowt wrong with the Battery or starter motor

If it doesn't then its either the solinoid, start button or wiring between

Yep the fuel pump is OK and the kill switch, checked them possibly thebattery terminals/ fittings could do with a clean , good idea I'll give the big screwdriver trick a go
Cheers lads

Just a note,
Tried the big screwdriver trick, and it cracked up straight off, ran like a demon, incidently the bike has historically always been "slow" on the starter even when the battery was brand new, despite having no issues starting the bike. When the solenoid was bridged the starter was spinning like a Bosch Washing machine on overdrive so I'm thinking that a new solenoid would be the best course of action next rather than the actual starter switch...

Great that you've narrowed it down, it makes sure you only end up swapping the bit that's causing the problem.
Now just before you buy a new solenoid, it might be worth undoing and cleaning the two terminals on the solenoid itself and seeing if that has any effect - if not then it's fairly obvious that the sol is fooked.
You'd be amazed what high resistance due to poor connections can do and the smoke you originally mentioned suggests something was getting rather hot.
At worst, a replacement solenoid should not set you back too much, I've seen them on ebay for not much more than £20.

Thanks,
Thats what I had planned to do so it's great to hear a bit of similar thinking. Not being an electrical wizz it can be a bit daunting.

Cheers

Good news
The old tricks work well