Starting issue for the gurus...

[rcn11thacr]

Maybe I’m just getting old...
I went for a maiden ride on my 07 max iv today after completely rebuilding the max. Gutted the tub, powder coated everything in sight, new bolts, 6 hd Argo outer bearings and six max inner bearings, made lots of little mods to make her work more to my liking. Fresh amsoil and filter and a splash of new antifreeze and away I went. She drive very well, had no problems for a 30 minute drive around the homestead. Even shut her off at one point to answer a phone call. I get back home (thankfully) and 10 minutes later hop back in and she doesn’t crank. I've got fuel and I've got power to the starter, the head lights work, but the starter will not turn over. I check both fuses under the dash and they are good and check all the other connections on the motor and it’s all good. Pull both ground straps and scratch around them (due to the powder coating) even though I know I’d done a good job scratching when I put her back together during the rebuild. I'm alone at the moment with no one to help turn the switch while I "jump" the poles on the starter, so I pull the starter. Hook it up to a battery with jumper cables and it kicks out and spins, so it’s not the problem. I go back to the dash and pull out the nest of wires to look for a bad connector. I clean a few rough looking connection spots and still have no starter. Am I missing something? The only thing that kept bugging me that I couldn’t verify was when I changed the filter on the 27 hp motor I didn’t have the factory filter. Happens that I have a 2013 Suzuki Raider SCL (1900 ci ) and have spare filters on hand. Turns out the two filters are virtually identical. Same size, same thread pitch. Only difference was the side of the filter where the threads are, the actual piece of metal that is threaded is bent inward where the factory one is bent outward. Far as I know a filter is a filter, some have the ability to retain oil when the motor is shut off and some dont. Other than that I think they are all pretty basic. All I could figure out was that maybe the motor has a sensor that notices if there is no oil flow and shuts off the system if there is concern of motor damage. That’s a farfetched idea since I drove it for a good bit and the motor didn’t shut down…but at this point I’m grasping at straws. Chances are it's the key switch, but since i didnt have the schematic to the switch i didnt want to use a jumper wire and burn it up by using the wrong fins to jump from. Any ideas?

[hydromike]

As a first easy step, I'd verify that you have power at the starter solenoid with the key at the "start" position (on top of and integrated with the starter assembly on the 27hp Kawasaki, I believe). You can jam the positive lead of a voltmeter into that connection, and just vice-grip the negative lead to a good ground. Turn the key and you should be getting a 12+V reading. If you're not even getting a "click" out of the solenoid, you've got a bad connection at the key or something loose between the key and the battery. You can even double check that it's not the solenoid itself by just running a small gauge (14-16) jumper wire from the battery directly to the solenoid contact and it should engage. If it doesn't, your starter solenoid might be toast.


Give that a shot...


::EDIT:: I looked at a couple pictures, and the FD starters are basically like all the other Denso units. The above method should work fine for testing the solenoid. Remember that the starter itself is grounded through its attachment to the engine case. Make sure that's a clean, secure fitment.

[rcn11thacr]

I bought a new switch on the way home from work this morning. Put it in and it fired right up
Thanks for the input Mike!

[rcn11thacr]

Alright, evidently this issue isnt fixed afterall. As mentioned previously i put in a new key switch and today i took the starter to the shpo to verify "by an expert" that it was fine. It worked as i said it did earlier. I also upgraded to a 550 CCA battery (i'd already planned this upgrade before this problem), so the battery isnt an issue either. I have the correct voltage at the solenoid and i now get a click everytime when i turn the key (small progress). But if i use the winch switch, i get a click at the switch and the winch box that mounts beside the motor but the winch does not work. So no winch and no start... Is there another solenoid on the max other than the one on the starter? Any other ideas? It looks like i need to just pull all of the wires and rebuild the wiring harness now. Sucks considering i've spent the last month or so rebuilding the entire chassis, i'm about tired of working on it for awhile.

[tbone9]

I chased an electrical problem on my 27 horse for a long time. It would shut off on me then sometimes restart other times not. Turned out to be a loose wire going into the fuel pump harness. If yours is an intermittent problem with starting I got to believe its a loose wire. I'd start back by the engine since you just had it out and have someone hold the key and wiggle the wires. Could be something as simple as where the green wire goes into the spade terminal right on the starter. Good luck.

[Outlaw1]

Hi,
Have you metered the amperage to the solenoid. Still sounds like a ground issue to me. I went there with a MAX lV in the out back and suffered for quite a while til I started chasing trons and found a ground wire broken in the middle. Can't remember where it was though. Guess I'm getting old too! And that sucks too!

[Outlaw1]

You nailed it spade. The wires on my lV were all jury rigged and it was a loose wire in a spade. I'm glad someone remembered it for me. Dang, that was about 10 years ago....I think

[rcn11thacr]

Turns out the motor wasn't getting grounded as it should after all of that powder coating. That is the motor to the stand ground wasn't enough. Ran an extra ground wire from the lower starter bolt to the ground on the stand and it worked like its supposed to. Bout time.