Trying to start this bike that was bought as a non runner.
Seller claimed he heard a backfiring sound one morning when trying to start
and after that the bike was dead.

First of all I turned the flywheel bolt anticlockwise to see if it
turned, it did and felt like any other bike. Then put the bike in gear
and tried to roll it, hard resistance, didn´t move with the Little force I gave.
Checked the valves and they were in order. Changed the oil.

Starting with a fresh battery replace I got the clicks from the solenoid.
Starter didn´t seemes to engage at that point. Changed the starter.
Same clicks, no starter spinn at all. Disconnected everything and changed
to a new harness that was checked, cleaned and electric greased in the
connections. Cleaned up and checked all cables/parts thats has to do with
grounding. Replaced and connected the following, CDI, solenoid, starter relay,
ignition switch and stop/start thingy. Had no extra Reg/rect so old got connected.
Battery has now 12,74 volts. Pushing the start button and starter turns slowly
some but then solenoid clicks again. Push again, only solenoid clicks.
I have also checked the stator as they recommend with the sound check and
possible grounding issues with a multimeter tool. That´s ok so far.
So, any suggestions what to do next here?

Have you tried running the starter motor not fitted to the bike..... just to discount that its not the starter motor or the circuit at fault??

philb wrote:Have you tried running the starter motor not fitted to the bike..... just to discount that its not the starter motor or the circuit at fault??

Haven´t been investigating more about this but will soon.
I told myself to get Another fresh battery I know will be around 12V/8Ah. I hope that is the specs for E-model. The one I got says nothing and is
of gel type. Last I did was to do as you suggested after opening it and clean Everything up but starter only turned slowly around. I guess
they will spin very quickly if the battery is ok.

Maybe some new and bigger gauge cables for the starter as well . When I built my E start the stock cables were just barely big enough and as soon as the starter took more they couldn't handle it . I made my own 8ga cables and the starter spun over with vigor . I also added a few bigger ground cables , one directly to the starter mount from the battery , just to make sure it had a solid voltage flow.

Any corrosion or rough connection point can cause less juice to get through as well.


.

Dear all,

Running into similar problems with my xt600E 1999.
I did a total rebuild of the engine and now trying to start.

Starter motor is real slow and draining the battery when it does not fire up immediately

What I did before:
Starter motor cleaned and tested on the work bench: works fine, no strange noises.
Replaced the relay.
Replaced the ground cable for a thicker one.
New battery and even a starter battery in parallel
Motor turns easily with wrench on the crank shaft.


Starter motor gets warm (not to warm to touch but pretty warm) after a few tries.
When the motor runs (it does start) is runs beautiful, the generator puts out 14.4 V so it is charging

Is this a normal thing on the XT or is it solveable?

With the XTZ660 model, the motor brushes there are known to be perishables :-).
The XT600E has the same stuff built in (3AJ-81801-00).

You could try to replace them for better contact = more torque.

https://www.cmsnl.com/yamaha-xt600e-199 ... aj8180100/

Cheaper option would be a not-so-good new starter relay. You could try to feed the starter directly from the battery for a test.

Andy