What would you think?

[Night Vision]

not sure where inna got that info...

trace the wires back to the side stand relay, unplug it & jump the terminals.  if she starts you've found the problem. jump the wires fron the relay as well. just bypass it completely these relays can gunk up with crud (sometimes you can open them & clean them.)

--Lucky

http://www.jetav8r.com/Vision/ImageGallery1/0060.jpg

according to Leather, you can just cut the BLACK w/WHITE STRIPE wire

http://www.jetav8r.com/Vision/IgnitionFAQ.html#aapp

I would rather fix the problem, than bypass it

[Rick G]

I on the other hand would prefer to eliminate all the old ,dirty, worn electrical componants, I can , to limit future problems . But on the other had as Randy Lane once said "ther's an ass for every seat and a seat for every ass" ;D

[Night Vision]

I would perfer not to highside off the kickstand if it happened to be left down....   :'(

on the other hand, some might be willing to take that chance   :-\

[williamruck]

well you guys have given me a lot to think about. Thanks, and I will let you know what I find out. Thanks again.

My big issue is just finding time to work on the V. I am pretty busy and it is pretty cold out (I don't have a garage). The bike is under a car cover but that doesn't do much to stop the chilling winds.

[QBS]

When pushing the starter button, do you hear the "click" of the starter relay or do you hear the sound of silence?  Install the fuel filter Before you start the engine regardless of plans to install a better tank in the future.  This will keep trash from your old tank from getting into your carbs.

[inanecathode]

Also, when you have the key on and you switch the kill switch on and off, does it make a clicking sound back in the bike?

[williamruck]

no clickong just silence. I americangoing to bypass the kickstand switch for the moment to see if that is the issue.

[Cdnlouie]

Takes NV's advice  ;) and do the quick starter check so you can confirm whether the starter is where you need to go to, or the electrical system. Then you're starting to make some progress.

Good luck  ;),

Cdnl

[jasonm.]

ALL vision starters will get oil in them. The question is when? Mine did it at 15k.  With the exact same symptoms as William.The factory seal is junk. The starter relay on my bike was hard to hear. So this may be difficult for most to hear. I would lean towards the starter. Doing the relay bypass(as suggested) will prove this out. No engine cranking= oil in starter. Do not bypass the safety relay. As far as the sidestand switch. IT CANNOT STOP you from starting the bike in neutral. It only comes comes into play with the engine in gear. So if your neutral light is on I suggest for now ignoring all the wire cutting suggestions. In fact the side stand switch wire has to be crossed(shorted) after it is cut.

[Rick G]

Hi Night, So you haven't driven off with the side stand down?  I do it all the time, no memory left ;D , it's bent enough to allow it to just pop up , no problem . All the  Visions I have observed have  a fair amount of bend in the centre of the  side stand , either that or they came that way.
I like Hondas little "finger" on the bottom of the stand , I've thought of adapting one.

[williamruck]

Once again I want to thank you guys for all of the advice and information. This morning I was going to go out and start the process of the starter inspection when I realized something. I don't know as much about these bikes as I should. So before doing irreparable damage to my V I have gone out and ordered a Haynes repair manual. Hopefully the combination of step by step instructions and large pictures will keep me from messing too much up. I think I am going to try and clean and repair the kickstand relay before I bypass it, but if I can't seem to fix it (if it needs fixing) then I will just cut it out entirely. But before I do that I am going to take a look at the starter and all of its components to "see what I can see". Thanks again and I will keep you guys posted.

[h2olawyer]

Lucky has a CD with all the info -- Haynes, factory manual & lots of other cool stuff about the Vision.  He sells them for much less than their true value.  No Vision (or XZ550) owner should be without one!

I have no financial or other stake in that venture but want to let you know they are available & well worth having.  I have both the Haynes & a factory manual.  I still got one of the CDs & use it often.

H₂O

[inanecathode]

You know, you can always just unplug it temporarily. The plug for it is buried behind the tci and the coolant bottle. If you're not sure of the wire colors (kinda hard after 25 years in the elements) just tug n' trace the wires to the plug. Nothing is hard soldered in the vision, everything has plugs.

[Tanno]

When I first saw my stator plug....it might as well have been soldered. The plug was melted together....no getting them apart. Most of you here have seen or experienced that already.  ::)

[williamruck]

     Alright guys here is an update: I have gotten the bike back together and I am just waiting for the liner in the fuel tank to cure before I put it back on. But in the meantime I have a gas can rigged as a tank. But, in any event, I tried to jump the starter solenoid. I used a pair of needle-nose pliers to connect the two nodes on the solenoid and when I did I got a few sparks and I heard a groaning noise from the starter. It sounded as though the starter wanted to turn but it wasn't able.
     I then took the solenoid off and cleaned all of the connections and when I put it back on and tried the start button I heard a loud click coming from the solenoid area. After that I continued to work on a few other things and when I finally came back to the starter. When I tried pushing the start button again nothing.  ???
     Today I am going to check the connections again on the solenoid again and I am going to test the starter before I take it off. Any advice on what is going on? I will post my findings after I try and jump the starter.

[inanecathode]

Starter is crapped up, probably have some corrosion in the channels where the brushes run. Its actually fairly easy to get the starter taken apart and back together. Just spend a day in the garage playing with it :)

[williamruck]

update again:
 
   So I went back over there again to see what I could do. I took the solenoid off and put it back on again (finding that I hadn't gotten one of the connectors tightened down all the way) and then tried to start it again. All I got was a loud click. I then went and tried to jump the starter but I got nothing. When I was taking off the connector on the terminal I found a lot of corrosion. So yeah inanecathode I figure the started is gummed up. Any advice on cleaning it out? Or is it just a matter of "take apart, wipe off gunk, and put together"?

[Lucky]

spray it out with carb cleaner or similar. change the seal in the nose with one with a spring in the lip (oem one doesn't have the spring) and be 1000% sure you have the gears in the nose lined up STRAIGHT otherwise you'll wipe out those gears in short order.

there are details of the repair on my site.

--Lucky

[inanecathode]

The two things you need to worry about and look for is a crapped up commutator (sectioned part of the starter armature, its immediately obvious when you have it apart) and the brushes being stuck in their slides.
The commutator: chuck it in a lathe or just spin it by hand whilst a piece of emory cloth is held to it, helps knock some corrosion and carbon off it, and generally improves the connection on this end
Brushes: You'll see how they would get stuck, they ride in a rectangular channel in the brush plate of the starter with pretty close tolerances. Just remove the brushes and scrape/sand/clean out the channels and the brushes themselves. Make sure the tethers attached to them arent broken, and the springs push back firmly.

If the starter sits forever the brushes lock in those channels, and when you run the starter for the first time after it sits, the now crapped up commutator grinds on the ends of the brushes, taking off a tiny amount of brush. Normally the brush would be pushed down with spring pressure, but after all that time it can become corroded and it wont recover the space the grinding took away. Thus instead of a good positive connection theres an air gap the battery power has to bridge.