when I try to start my raptor the starter keeps going even though I turn the key off. I had to take the positive off the battery for it to stop. Also the terminals of my battery started melting. Anyone ever heard of that

 

yah you have a short to ground fallow the wire harnis

 

You probably have a bad starter relay. Start by disconnecting the cable where it attaches to the starter, and tape up the end so it won't short out on any metal parts. Then hook the battery back up, turn the key switch on, then press the starter button and listen for a click coming from the rear. If you don't hear a click the starter relay is probably bad, you can try banging on the relay with a wrench or something and see if that pops something loose and fixes it temporarily, but usually once they do that they'll keep on getting stuck until you replace them. Let me know what happens

 

I hope that it is the relay I will have to try that tomorrow. It melted the tops of the terminals completely off. It sucks cause that battery isnt even a month old. Is there anything else that it could be. It seems like I work on my bike more than I ride it.

 

There are other things that it could be, but nothing major that I can think of, just wires getting pinched or shorted out somewhere.

 

Thanks for your help recon, I will check on some stuff and post back here when I find the problem

 

well I took the leed off of the starter and the relay clicked so It may not be that. I also followed the wiring harness all over and didnt find anything that didnt look right. Anyone know what else to check. I need all the help I can get

 

hmm, do you have a multimeter or test light for testing? The next thing I would do is disconnect the starter cable from the solenoid (with the battery disconnected of course) then reconnect the battery and see if you're getting voltage at the output terminal. With the starter button released there should be 0 volts, (in reference to ground), and with the button pressed there should be about 12 volts. My guess is when you test it'll be about 12 volts on both terminals no matter what, and that means bad solenoid.

 

Recon99, I hope you will have the patience with me on this one. What exactly are you talking about when you say the "solenoid". You are being a great deal of help on this one. I will have to get my uncles test light from him to do this. Or maybe you could explain this again in lamens terms. I have little to no experience with the electrical system. I'm pretty good with every thing but the electrical.

 

I'll do my best to help you get this figured out. The solenoid is also known as the starter relay. I never worked on a raptor, but most yamahas are the same, so i'll explain it to you like it is on my warrior and hope that they're the same.

To find the solenoid, trace the positive wire from the battery to where it goes through the rear plastic and comes out under the left fender. It should go to a cylinder-shaped relay, then another wire of the same size will be coming off the other side of the relay. That relay is the solenoid. Disconnect the wire from that solenoid that goes to the starter, but leave the one to the battery connected.