My friend has an 02 raptor. When he tries to start it sometimes it wont turn over, sometimes the starter stays engaged, other times it starts fine. He thought it might be from low voltage/bad battery so he replaced it. Still acts up.

When this first happened we were riding for about 1/2 hour. He shut it off and tried to restart it. It hardly cranked over, the starter kept slowly cranking then stoped. We had to push start it to get it running. After we rode for another 5 min or so it died on him. He tried to start it a couple of times, nothing hapened at first, and then all of a sudden it started fine. We headed back twards the house and it died again. We ended up towing it.

Any thoughts?

 

Does the starter just spin normally or crank real slow? If it just spins, it's probably the one-way bearing. If it's a new battery and cranks real slow, try checking all the connections to make sure they are tight and clean.

 

It cranks, no free spin.

 

Mine sometimes does that, well, it hasn't since last summer. But, does it like "click" around the battery? If you can hear a click, then start looking for a loose nut around the battery and the solenoid and if you can't find any, start pushing the big red and black wires into there "plugs" more. Thats what i had to do on mine, but then again it never stalled out when i was driving...mine just did that when it started-sometimes-

 

Mine JUST started doing this after my Piston and Cam install. I thought it was the tighter valve springs or something, the starter couldn't turn over the higher compression/increased resistance?
I replaced the Battery also and bought a real nice trickle charger to keep both our bikes peaked.
Didn't help.
I swapped starters from one bike to another and that Didn't help.
I am about to take my bike in to see what gives.. wierd it only JUST started after the motor rebuild.
Maybe the engine ground isn't good enough or something. I reattached the ground wire to the left side of magneto case cover where it came from and the area/terminal was clean.
I'll try jamming the wires back into the starter relay, but nothing looked loose.
Mine CLICKS like crazy when the bike won't turn over. Other times, it turns over just fine.
Maybe I'll swap relays from one bike to the other and see if that is the problem.
Its easy having two raptors to troubleshoot these annoying problems.
Any other ideas?

 

DO NOT BUY A SINGLE PART BEFORE TESTING!!! You should be able to find your problem. I have several threads regarding electrical problems so you can also search my name for these. To see immediately if the starter relay is at fault losing voltage simply jump across the solonoid terminals (large terminals) with a pair of pliers, screwdriver etc. If you have a good battery and good connections at the battery and at the starter then the starter should spin right over if your motor is not modified and has high compression or a mechanical proble causing binding. and if your starter is good. You can remove the starter and hit it with battery voltage to see if it spins and is torquey in your hand. Should spin with some torque, not just a calm slow spin. Now do yourself a favor. Pick up a $40 digital multimeter. This is all you need. Lets alk through this from A to Z in a logical order ok? Start at the battery. Measure the voltage with the bike not running. Should be at least 12.8 volts. If not does the battery look healthy? Start the bike if you can and measure the battery voltage while it is running. Should be higher. At least 1/2 volt higher but preferrably 1 to 2 volts higher. If it is not higher what so ever then the bike is not charging. Stator/regulator and wiring need to be looked at. Now charge the battery if it is low. Measure the voltage at the starter solonoid battery terminal. Should match battery voltage. You are I see questioning your connections. Here is a quick way to postiviely test them. Take that voltmeter and if it is digital set to DC voltage and put it across the connections, it if is a needle type set to the lowest DC voltage setting. While cranking the bike over watch the meter. If it moves it is showing the voltage being lossed across the bad connection. There would be a difference at the hot end of the connection and at the load end if the connection was loose. If the bike does get to low in battery voltage while running it could shut the CDI off. So I would putt around on it with a volt meter in front of me watching the voltage and waiting for the bike to shut off seeing if the voltage is low at that point. Now you can also put a test light on the coil positive to see if it is getting a good constant flashing signal, if it very erratic it could be a bad wire (usually orange on Yamahoppers) to the coil or a bad CDI or the low battery voltage. You have to go by what your test results are. Now this can get lengthy so if this doesn't help or is not enough message me and I can take you all the way to step Z where we can definitely solce your problem.

 

I had the same problem. Starter clutch was shot. Not the clutch itself, there is an actual clutch within the starter that engages and disengages once the bike turns over or is turning over. I was getting a rapping noise as well when starting up - I thought the crank was shot. Turned out to be like a $300 fix through a private shop. If you go to the dealer, if you are not a fix it yourself type, they are going to take you to the cleaners.

 

Nice reply renegade888.
We did put a cam in about a month ago, and he hardly rode it till now.

Before I read any replies I stoped at my friends house. I started out by checking the voltage with his voltmeter, it was good, then I jumped the starter relay. It cranked over good each time. I tried the start button again and ithe starter would stay engaged. I taped on the relay and it stoped cranking. But now by pushing the start button it will only click, 12+ volts going in relay 5 volts coming out.

On the plug that goes into the relay what do the 3 wires do? I used an ohm meter and found when the start button is pushed there is a conection between 2 of the wires (dont know colors). How much resistance should it have? The ohm meter reading was about 5 ohms, Reading wouldnt stay steady.

Would it possibly die if the starter stayed engaged and the battery was bad?

 

The Raptor starter relay is pretty wimpy, it will weld itself shut if there isn't enough battery voltage. The 3 wires are a ground (start), hot from the CDI, and a feed to the voltage regulator if I remember correctly.

 

MIne would just keep clicking when i tried to start it. changed the battery and it never happen again. this time i got a battery tender for 30 bucks. i was told it was the relay and other crap that starters go bad on raptors ... it was only the battery.