starter problems

my starter button sticks and i forgot to tell my friend that. well, he went for a ride and apparently it just so happened that it stuck that time. (btw, this is at work. we're network administrator interns so we travel between the 2 buildings a lot) well...he parks it after we get back and when we go out an hour or 2 later, nothing. headlights are dim and the starter wont do anything. i figured it was because the battery was dead. apparently thats not the case either. i rode it for about 30 mins total, bump starting it each time i stopped, and the lights are back to normal but the starter still doesnt work. sometimes when i push the button the rpm gauge will go up to 7000 but it doesnt make that usual starter noise and doesnt start. infact, it doesnt make any noise.

edit:
after riding it around for a while, it seems that the battery is just shot. the head lights are dim and the turn signals blink very slow. and i dont know if this has anything to do with it, but when i pull in the clutch the headlight randomly get brighter? and this part is most likely idle adjustment, but it stalls a lot when i pull in the clutch since this happened.

another edit:
i charged the battery and it starts right up now. i had my dads friend test it to see if it was charging the battery and when it was just idleing it was charging it the way it should but as soon as i gave it gas the charge needle went to 0 and took a while to go back up. is this normal for a motorcycle? btw, the thing he used to test it was for a car.

 

See if you can repeatedly start the bike with charged battery 10 times in a row. If you can, it's probably not the battery. If you can't, it's probably the battery.

I would also check the 3 yellow wires coming from the stator/regulator. Make sure the connection is nice and tight with no burnt insulation or melted plastic.

 

Mine stickes as well does anybody know how to remove the switch to clean it? I took the 2 screws out and now the throttle cable is holding it on there. I know nothing about bikes so if somebody could walk me through how to remove the rest of it and get it back together.

 

I just went through something similar to that with mine. It turned out to be the R/R. I replaced the R/R and the plug that goes into it and it is fine now. I will have to go back and find the link but someone told me about a link to Electrosport's flowchart to figure out any electrical problem with your bike. I used it and it was easy to follow and led me right to the problem. I will post the site as soon as I go back and find it. Don't know about the sticking starter, never had that.

 

Here's that link to the Electrosport flowchart. Think this will help.
http://www.electrosport.com/electrosport_fault_finding.html

 

i just downloaded the pdf and ill print it out and take a look at it this week sometime. what does R/R stand for?

 

Regulator/Rectifier- Basically your voltage regulator.

 

after killing my battery and needing to get a new one i descided its time to go through the flow chart. i found that the yellow wires coming out of the engine going to the R/R were black and a little mented at the contacts. i sprayed them with electrical cleaner and im going to go back through the flow chart again tonight

 

If they are black, then they heated up because the contacts could not handle the voltage/amps running through them (see my post above).

Common problem.

Common fix is to cut back the wires to good copper, solder in replacement wire completely eliminating the connections. I recommend making the total length of the wire a little longer than stock for flexibility - if you have to unmount the RR at a later time. Heatshrink or liquid electrical tape to cover solder connections. Be sure to use the same gauge wire...

 

The starter stuck on my '83 the other day right in front of the Honda dealer.
I went to start it, let off the button...kept cranking, turned off key...kept cranking, took key out...kept cranking....Then, LET THERE BE SMOKE. And lots of it. It seems after about a minute of uninterupted cranking, the ground wire @ the battery begins to melt. Then I ripped off the side cover, Pulled the knife from my pocket, and began cutting the already melting ground strap. At this time a mechanic appeared from the affore mentioned Honda Dealer, who said "Push it to the back and I'll unhook the battery". I kept cutting. By the time I'd pushed it that far, someone would have called the FD. This baby wanted to burn. I finally got it cut, cranking and smoke stopped, and I began the push to the service dept. After some creative wiring, and a new starter solonoid, the 'ole 83 rides again!
The moral of this long drawn out story is...Keep a phillips screwdriver with you at all times. I had my tool kit under the seat, but my soft saddle bags' straps went over the seat. It would have taken too long to remove them and remove the seat to get to the tools. My tool kit now resides in the saddle bags...within easy reach.

 

if i have problems again this is what ill have to do i suppose

 

Why wait? Do the fix now before it strands you on the road.