New to this forum, I apologize if posting in the wrong area. My 250S is doing something I haven't dealt with before, and it's not your typical cold/start carb issue.
Last week when I was starting the bike I noticed the starter would only turn when I initiated the throttle. By lunch it was worse and turned over on my third or fourth attempt. By the end of the day, the starter wouldn't do anything at all - not even click. Said, I can roll start it every time.

My battery is fine and trickle charged any time I'm not riding for more than 24 hours. Do you think it's just a bad starter, and if so, do you have any suggestions?

Thank you for reading.

 

might wanna look at your starter relay also, and check connections going to the starter.
ps sometimes a battery will hold a charge but not crank properly

 

I don't quite get the comment. You mean it won't even turn over until you twist the throttle?

If so is it a possible electrical connection problem in throttle housing? That's the first place I'd look, then move on through wiring to the starter looking for problems. Don't forget possible dirty/loose battery terminals either. One other possibility I ran into once was the brushes on the starter motor on my Nighthawk S. New brushes and a friend/electric shop worker dressed the armature a bit.

 

klx678 that's exactly what I meant, eventually it just didn't turn at all. Weird right!? I assumed it was electrical and the throttle twist was making some shotty connection arc, but I had no idea where to start. Thank you and peabrain for the help. I'll dig in once it stops raining and keep you posted.

 

Definitely look to see if there's a damaged wire in the housing, if the throttle motion affected it that is the only thing that makes sense. Otherwise look for the easiest and cheapest first - aka wire connections and battery terminal wires clean and tight (freebies). Then go deeper.

 

I second the starter relay. That or maybe the rectifier? Also check ignition fuse.

 

But you always check the stuff that is both easy to check and free to fix, first. A starter relay can be checked pretty easy too. But if it goes any deeper it might be better to get some experienced individuals involved.

In the years I was at the bike shop we had riders come in and buy virtually every electrical component possible and still not fix a problem. They would have been better off to spend the forty bucks for an hour of trouble shooting by the service department. Electrical gremlins can be costly, since most electrical parts are non-returnable. Fact is the source of problem can probably be found by a service tech in a half hour and may save a wad of wasted money.

 

if its reacting to throttle movement the start switch would be the thing I would look at first. if it were the kill switch you probably couldn't roll start and if it did start, the engine would probably blip in and out while driving.

if its not that, I would check the starter circuit. to energize the start relay, it goes like this.... power from battery goes to the key switch, then to the stop/kill switch, then to the starter switch. if you get power that far it will feed the safety lock out relay. that relay will energize only if it sees a safe condition (inputs are neutral, sidestand and clutch switches). if "safe", the lock out relay will close and power will connect to the main starter relay (BK wire).

on the main starter relay there are 2 small wires and the 2 main power wires to the starter and battery (there is also the fuse with a white wire that takes battery power to the key switch... ignore that as long as the fuse is OK). the small wires on the relay energize the coil for starting. BK/Y is ground (negative) and BK is the switched hot from the safety circuit relay. you can bypass everything else and check the main starter relay by jumping battery plus on to the small BK wire. the BK/Y wire should already go to ground, but check connections etc

you can bypass the safety relay by jumping Y/R to BK. the Y/R comes from the start switch, BK is the feed to the main start relay above. if this bypass makes things better the problem is in the safety circuits (which could be the diodes, but these are not rectifiers in this case)