'00 FXDX sometimes won't start, see description

[Shooter1]

I have a '00 FXDX I bought in 2010. I have recently had a couple instances where when you hit the starter button, it does nothing, like the battery was not hooked up, totally dead, even though the lights on the speedometer and the neutral light was on like normal. If you wait a minute, then try again, the bike starts. I checked all the battery connections,. the starter relay and starter cables and all or clean and tight. I cleaned up the male/female electrical connections on the ignition switch but they looked fine anyway. I wonder if it may be the starter button, #71589-96b? Has anyone had this problem when you turn the key on and all gauge and idiot lights come on normally but the bike is totally dead when you hit the button? Remember, this is a 2000 model and uses a key and not a fob if that makes any difference. Thanks

[Hybredhog]

put a test light on the small trigger wire on the starter, it should always get power when starting. Hopefully you have a wiring diagram, and test the black & red wire from the switch to the starter relay,< which would be my top pick of a culprit, you should get a light when button is on. Usually a relay will at least click, but it could be bad. To test just the button you'll have to pull the right bar harness out of the frame neck (very crowded in there), unplug, isolate & test. As a rule of thumb the starter button is pretty good, & if faulty it may need a wiggle to make go bad.

[doctorevil]

no simple answer you got to put in the work. start at the deutsch connectors . in most older dynas they have been pulled in and out of the backbone changing bars. everytime you turn them it stresses the pin and breaks wires. use a power probe so you can power and test the circuit unplugged from the bar switches.

[doctorevil]

maybe i over simplified that. in the shop we disconnect the bar switch from the starter and test each separately at the connector.

[smoserx1]

On most of the bikes of that era the starter button and relay itself are powered from the ignition lead wire from the ignition switch but the wire the relay actually connects to the starter solenoid comes from the accessory side of the ignition switch.   The accessory wire coming into the relay should be red with a gray stripe.  The wire going from the relay to the solenoid should be green.  When you push the button the relay then connects these two wires together to actuate the solenoid of the starter.  The first thing I would do is pull the green wire off the solenoid and check it with a digital meter (not a bulb) when you press the handlebar button.  Make sure it is getting good voltage (this test should also rule out the handlebar button itself).  If the voltage is too low the solenoid can fail to operate.  I had your issue for years literally till I finally got tired of it and made a wiring change.  I  essence I severed the red/gray wire coming into the relay and replaced it with a new fused wire connected directly to the battery + terminal.  That was about 10 years ago and the issue has not recurred a single time since.

[14Frisco]

I wonder if it may be the starter button, #71589-96b? Has anyone had this problem when you turn the key on and all gauge and idiot lights come on normally but the bike is totally dead when you hit the button?

Something similar happened to me and my 1993 XLH, and it was tricky to diagnose.  The start switch (in my case 71589-92) was worn internally and could rock "too far".  When the button was pushed it rocked past its normal/original stop and the internal copper contacts lost their connection.  If the button was pushed slowly without "forcefully" bottom it out to its stop, then there was connection and the bike fired right up.

[Shooter1]

Thanks for the info guys. I'll get the voltmeter out.

[dynabagger]

FWIW my 2001 start button did fail. Easy to check as mentioned with a volt meter and a wiring diagram.