Another Sportster's (finally) on the road!

[NigelB]

Ian,
I learnt an interesting trick from an RAC man one day. If you hear the click of the solenoid, but the starter doesn't turn, then turn the key and whack the starter with a hammer at the same time (via a long drift if your starter is as inaccessible as mine and it probably needs two of you). If the starter then turns it's likely the starter is on its last legs.

I had a random failure of the starter on my Sportster. But it worked when I whacked it. I changed the starter and have had no problem since. I didn't measure any voltages though so can't comment on the numbers you get.

And now I've just read your original post on this and maybe it sounds a bit more complex than a simple starter problem. But it's probably worth trying to eliminate it if you can.

[peterux]

Originally Posted by MartinClan

The fact you have some voltage albeit low means it has to be a poor connection. Have you checked the starter solenoid? Normally this also behaves as a relay switching the feed to the starter.

Robin

I agree.
Have you checked the battery ground connection to the chassis and the engine ground strap?

[morris]

I think you're all right about the bad connection. On Sunday I thought that I'd cured the problem by tightening the starter motor cable post as it seemed a little loose. I assumed that the heat from the engine had worked it free. But when I hit the same problem a few hours later it was fiddling with the positive terminal on the battery that did the trick.

My battery posts, rather than the soft lead ones you get on normal batteries are solid brass screw in ones that taper slightly. As far as I can tell the clamps on the cables are not tapered so I'm wondering if this is enough for them to work loose. If you test the voltage near the battery but not on the terminals it still reads 12.8V but maybe the surge of power for the starter is enough to dislodge it. You can slowly turn the clamps on the posts which doesn't bode well. I may screw the B+ cable direct to the battery using a ring terminal rather a clamp and see if that improves things.

I'm really hoping that the loose connection is not on the terminals under the scuttle as that will mean an annoying amount of dismantling. I'm starting to regret burying so much of the electrics in inaccessible places.

[phil.coyle]

Quick fix for the copper coolant pipe is to solder a compression olive onto it, or sacrifice a compression fitting by tightening it up on the end of your pipe and then remove it and carefully cut off the nut left on the pipe.
Left with one swaged end you can force the rubber pipe over and fasten with a hoseclip.

[morris]

That's a good idea. I was thinking of soldering half a straight joiner but that would make the pipe a little too large on the OD for my hose. The olive sounds like the best plan.

[phil.coyle]

I had a similar experience to you with a 8 mm pipe sliding off, and after searching around the garage found an old pipe with an olive attached, and therefore no more problems and that was 15 years ago.

[morris]

I whizzed down to screwfix this afternoon and picked up a bag of 22mm olives and soldered one on each end of the pipe. I was worried that I was going to have real trouble getting the tight silicone hoses over the ends but I found a tube of silicone grease in my tool chest and with that smeared on, they went in no problem.

Fingers crossed that will be the last of this particular issue (and any others for a while)