Starter Runs With No Key In Ignition

[bamboozer]

Bike left me stranded yesterday, starter barely turned it over. This has been going on awhile but it always started. Bought a new battery today, it barely lit the dash and would barely honk the horns. Thought the battery was bad but it measured 11.7 v. with my meter. Carefully reconnected it, same results. Tried to jump it with the mobile battery pack I use to start dead mowers etc. Did not work any better and barely turned the motor over, to my amazement it would not stop even with the key set to off and then removed. I disconnected the battery to make it stop. Electrical short perhaps? There is nothing visible at this time. Any ideas?

[Bill O]

Bike left me stranded yesterday, starter barely turned it over. This has been going on awhile but it always started. Bought a new battery today, it barely lit the dash and would barely honk the horns. Thought the battery was bad but it measured 11.7 v. with my meter. Carefully reconnected it, same results. Tried to jump it with the mobile battery pack I use to start dead mowers etc. Did not work any better and barely turned the motor over, to my amazement it would not stop even with the key set to off and then removed. I disconnected the battery to make it stop. Electrical short perhaps? There is nothing visible at this time. Any ideas?

This also happened to me. I had a situation where I needed to do some constant cranking to troubleshoot an issue. I developed the same symptom you describe. The starter would not stop cranking. The problem is, the constant cranking overheated the starter relay to the point it got stuck and releasing the key would not shut it off. The starter relay contacts kinda spot welded themselves together. Disconnected the battery and checked the relay. Was really hot. A couple of sharp raps and a cooling down period and all was good, again. The starter button can cause a similar problem if you over crank the starter.

Bill O

[bamboozer]

A few hours later I touched the battery cable to the battery, nothing, no cranking. Perhaps it cooled off. Thanks for the reply.

[bamboozer]

New battery and no problems, starts instantly. Perhaps I should check the relay anyway.