Electrical...again. Help?

[eseibold]

Electrical failure on 1987 K75s. Starter won't turn over, no front lights, only '1' flash of right hand signal when you push any of the turn /cancel buttons, no horn.   What's going on here?

Brand new battery, starter relay replaced with known good.

Had similar crazy electrical issues about 18months ago, ultimately determined it was all due to a weak battery - but maybe not??

Bike was good last year. Pulled it out of winter hibernation last week and now have these issues with another brand new battery. Main ground seems clean, electrical box very dry. Any ideas?

[mw074]

Possible starter motor brush issue. Do a search on this website. Lots of invaluable information available.

[Martin]

Try doing a backspin on the starter. With the engine off and in 4th or 5th gear roll the bike backwards down a hill and pop the clutch a few times allowing the stater to spin backwards. This procedure normally dislodges the built up carbon from the brushes allowing the bike to start. The more permanent fix is to remove the starter, pull it apart and clean and check the brushes.
Regards Martin.

[eseibold]

Both these responses pointed to the starter so I just jiggled the wires leading into the starter around and got my headlight back. Still wouldn't turn over, but knew I was in the right direction.

Removed the starter, opened it up and found the internal wiring connection partially severed and/or fried. I'm thinking at this point that this is the culprit. Heading over to ebay rather than screw around with fixing this one.

Hopefully this is it! Thanks guys.

[John Lang]

Your brushes are used up. They have separate part numbers and together comprise the entire piece in your photo.