Starter button maintenance..how many times a year?

[SANDMAN5]

Started to ride to work last night....but no headlight..low or high beam.
Tapped on the starter button with a screwdriver...headlight works
but no start. I've done the st bu maint 4 times this year (once was
preventative maintenance). I take it apart, clean with electrical
cleaner ( before and after light sanding), dab a little Connection Protection
gooey stuff on the contacts and reassemble. Works great
for 3 months or so. Is this as long as youse guys get..or am I doing something
wrong? 98 Std, 60,000 miles. I had my 03 for 3&1/2 years and only did the
maintenance once. 

[9Ball]

sounds like you have other issues causing this repeat failure....not normal.

[Daniel Meyer]

Do you have an over-wattage bulb or lightbar (with no relay) wired in?

I've cleaned/lubed mine once in 145,000 miles.

[six2go #152]

My 98 Standard with 98,000 miles has never had the starter button apart for any reason. I'm from the school of "if it's working, don't mess with it". If mine was giving me that much grief, I think I would be getting a new assembly, then leave it alone until there is a problem.

[SANDMAN5]

Standard bulbs, light bar that never really worked (hasn't worked in over
3 years) I've thought about just getting a new switch, just making sure
it wasn't something simple that I was doing wrong. Like I mentioned, my 03
only needed it once, so I'm thinking it's not me. 

[John Schmidt]

You're drawing a fair amount of current through the start switch which causes the contacts to arc and burn, thereby causing your problem. Add a relay(I mounted one in the headlight bucket) and it cuts the current draw through the start switch to a fraction of what it was...well under 1 amp. That should end having to do the switch maintenance all the time, especially if you have installed a higher wattage headlight bulb.

http://www.rattlebars.com/mtz/starter.html

[Ricky-D]

Sanding the contacts three times is way too much. You'll reduce the lifetime considerably doing that.  The best thing would be a pencil erasure to polish them up a little.

And I would look for a different lubricant, seems the stuff you're using isn't helping much!

Hitting the switch with a screwdriver is not my description of preventive maintenance. Must think it's a Ford huh? 

***

[SANDMAN5]

Hitting the switch with a screwdriver is not my description of preventive maintenance. Must think it's a Ford huh?

Actually that reminded me of an old Chevy truck I had. Anyway, I was just trying to figger
out if it was the switch or the headlight bulb. And I think I wll try some different "stuff".

[sandy]

I'm with RJ. I did mine once 4 or more years ago. 123K now and still no problems. I use 0000 steel wool and dielectric grease. I've done several for friends with no call backs.

[Fritz The Cat]

Had a problem with mine about 2 years ago and somebody recommended Radio Shack contact cleaner. Instead, I bought that CRC junk from Walmart. It didn't help a bit. While on a ride, we stopped at a chick place in a strip mall that just so happened to have a RS. I bought a can there and sprayed it into the gaps around the switch. It hasn't ever messed up again.

[DarkMeister]

I bought a new assembly in back in August yet the problem continues. Maybe it will improve when I get around to installing it?   

[Quicksilver]

When I cleaned mine up,( because it was failing), I also raised the copper contact strip imbedded in the plastic just a bit by putting a thin screw driver beneath it and prying it up. Haven't had an issue in 2 years now.

[R J]

Started to ride to work last night....but no headlight..low or high beam.
Tapped on the starter button with a screwdriver...headlight works
but no start. I've done the st bu maint 4 times this year (once was
preventative maintenance). I take it apart, clean with electrical
cleaner ( before and after light sanding), dab a little Connection Protection
gooey stuff on the contacts and reassemble. Works great
for 3 months or so. Is this as long as youse guys get..or am I doing something
wrong? 98 Std, 60,000 miles. I had my 03 for 3&1/2 years and only did the
maintenance once.  

I haven't read the other posts so there might be some duplication here, if so go on over it.

1st off, DO NOT sand the starter button points with anything other than a eraser off of a pencil.     Also, just do it lightly, that is very soft metal and you can ruin it very quickly.

As far as your grease, I use derelict (Sp), and then only a dab.   If ya use too much it can get cold, old and form a hard piece on your button, so go easy.

I've only done my starter button maintenance twice in 14 1/2 years and K miles.

Last but not the least, unhook the power wire for those driving lights until you get a relay in there.   NO relay raises hell with those switches when running direct.