Stumped

[hotpod]

I dont know if I've missed a bit here but for what it's worth, on my low mileage 1985 Westy I had a similar issue with intermittent starting and then it stopped working altogether. I tried various things but it turned out that the cable from the front to the starter solenoid had failed somewhere along its length. I seem to remember the front to rear part of the circuit has a connector somewhere behind the fusebox. I had power to that connector on trying to start but it wasn't getting to the starter.
I ran a new cable and it has been fine ever since.
It is a chunky old cable to be breaking down inside undamaged insulation and I have never removed it to find out what happened.
But it did happen, I fixed it and moved on.
One day maybe I will pull it out and see.

[Simon Baxter]

Test battery voltage, record.
Test battery voltage at CE1 "P"
Test again both points again whilst cranking.
There is then a 4mm² red cable leaving "P" to the ignition switch.
At the ignition switch "30", both tests there.
From the switch "50" the cable goes back to CE1 (2 wires together, both Red/Black) and terminate in the plug "B" (red) test there too.
From there it is internal to the CE, exits at D24 (white) again, Red/Black but this time it's 6mm²
If you test all those points for volt drop you should find it.
I suspect corroded CE1 terminals, leaky windscreen corners.
May also be worth re-terminating cables en route.

In a starter solenoind there are 2 coils, a lighter "Pull In" coil and a bigger "Hold In" coil, I suspect the problem is the cables and terminals are managing the load of the pull in coil and failling at the higher current hold in coil.

Or, skip that lot, just unplug the connectors from the back of CE and inspect for green nastyness. give it a squirt, push them on and off a few times and suck it and see.

[Stesaw]

Test battery voltage, record.
Test battery voltage at CE1 "P"
Test again both points again whilst cranking.
There is then a 4mm² red cable leaving "P" to the ignition switch.
At the ignition switch "30", both tests there.
From the switch "50" the cable goes back to CE1 (2 wires together, both Red/Black) and terminate in the plug "B" (red) test there too.
From there it is internal to the CE, exits at D24 (white) again, Red/Black but this time it's 6mm²
If you test all those points for volt drop you should find it.
I suspect corroded CE1 terminals, leaky windscreen corners.
May also be worth re-terminating cables en route.

In a starter solenoind there are 2 coils, a lighter "Pull In" coil and a bigger "Hold In" coil, I suspect the problem is the cables and terminals are managing the load of the pull in coil and failling at the higher current hold in coil.

Or, skip that lot, just unplug the connectors from the back of CE and inspect for green nastyness. give it a squirt, push them on and off a few times and suck it and see.

Funnily enough yesterday I took the fusebox out to inspect and clean if need be as it seemed to be pointing towards that. I popped the back off it as well to check for damage inside which was all OK, there was a small spider nest in there which I cleaned out but all the copper tracks ( that I could see ) looked fine. Pins on the back of the box were all OK no fuzz but still gave them all a clean up with contact cleaner and all the connectors as some of the pins were a bit grimey. Voltage across all the non switched 12v was pretty consistent around 12.4 and when checking the 12v to the solenoid that also checked out OK at 12.3v.

OK, so today however I think I've found the culprit which has annoyed me somewhat as it was one of the first things I checked.
Battery ground cable.. :roll:. The battery end is twisted outwards in where only a fraction of it was touching the battery terminal when connected and tightened up, never noticed til I went mad with a sanding disk and a suitable sized dowel to wrap the disk around to clean the inside of the connector only to see the slightest bit of shiny metal on the top coming through while the rest was still dull, bent it back into shape cleaned again to make sure it was all getting a lick of the sanding and for good measure fitted a second temporary wire to it as well and fires up every time.


barsteward