Start Switch Broken Practially new

Just go the bike like 2 months ago and put almost 600 miles on it so far.  Was riding offroad today and rode into some super deep silt of course out by myself.  It was quite stuck.  I stepped back for a second to try to grab a stick or something to put under my feet as I could get no leverage.  Well it fell over and the starter button popped.  I popped it back in, and it wouldn't start at all. So needless to say, I had a heck of a time pulling it out.  I rested for a few minutes and pulled the starter switch apart.  I loosened it and re positioned the starter, but nothing.  I shorted the 2 wires with a screw driver and bam, started right up.  The kill switch also works perfectly.  I can't get the assembly apart in a way I could get it back to stock due to a pesky wire tie. This is all quite disappointing at only 2 months, and of course while i'm waiting for my hdb's to ship.  Should this be covered under warranty?  I know technically it fell over, but barely, this is a dirt bike and it just dropped into mud...  I don't want to have to pay $50 for a switch that is maybe a $5 part and shouldn't have broken.  

I also am having a strong smell of fuel while idling.  I can't find any wet spots after parking it, or notice any fuel leaks, but it is quite strong, and straight fuel (not exhaust).  Any suggestions on this?  I'll probably contact the dealer I purchased from, although its about an hour and a half away.  I have closer dealers, so I may try with them too.

Tell the dealer the start button stopped working, skip the dropping the bike part of the story and they will get you a new one under warranty, if your honest with them you might get a new switch under warranty but will likely have to buy it.
You just have to chalk this up to shit happens when you drop a bike. I've had a few tip overs that broke small stuff and some bigger/harder crashes that didn't hurt a thing, stuff breaking when you crash is pretty random.

Biglake wrote:

Tell the dealer the start button stopped working, skip the dropping the bike part of the story and they will get you a new one under warranty, if your honest with them you might get a new switch under warranty but will likely have to buy it.
You just have to chalk this up to shit happens when you drop a bike. I've had a few tip overs that broke small stuff and some bigger/harder crashes that didn't hurt a thing, stuff breaking when you crash is pretty random.

Thanks for the reply. I talked to my more local dealer who I buy a lot of parts from and they were actually willing to look at it to try and warranty it. They said they couldn't get it in any time soon to look at the fuel smell, but I actually got the spring back in to put it together to take in in to them, and wont' you know it works now. It seems to me like not the best design as the spring being just slightly tweaked means your bike doesn't start. I'm guessing when the button popped out it misaligned in. It took me 2 hours to get the spring in the perfect spot to actually close the circuit on the contact, and it was by chance after I had given up and was just reassembling. I called the dealer back and the parts guy actually suggested I pretend I never found the spring after dropping it and have them try to replace, but with how much of a PITA it was, I didn't want to take it back out, and don't feel right about making them do the extra work (plus I can't guarantee they will replace it under warranty) when its currently working. I hopefully will have my hdb guards soon which will mean it shouldn't happen again anyways.

I didn't think to still make the appointment to have them look at the fuel smell. Does anyone else get this really strong fuel smell at idle? with messing with the switch yesterday, it actually seemed it might be coming from the tank. Is there back-pressure sent back into the tank on these bikes? I wouldn't think so having an electronic fuel pump. Could it have to do with a co setting, am I getting too much fuel at idle?

Thanks,

These starter switches can be problematical, it seems. My bike and another one used for work have both stopped working due to dust getting in. We've got them working again, but they're both intermittent at times. Annoying.

All fuel tanks have to breathe, so maybe your cap has stored some fuel, or the breather isn't sealing as well as it should. Just guessing, I have to admit. I hardly rode my bike with the stock tank, so didn't get a chance to fall off and test it! Thankfully...

66T wrote:

These starter switches can be problematical, it seems. My bike and another one used for work have both stopped working due to dust getting in. We've got them working again, but they're both intermittent at times. Annoying.

All fuel tanks have to breathe, so maybe your cap has stored some fuel, or the breather isn't sealing as well as it should. Just guessing, I have to admit. I hardly rode my bike with the stock tank, so didn't get a chance to fall off and test it! Thankfully...

Took it to my local dealer as it quit working again. They replaced the switch under warranty. They also said the cap was leaking and replaced that under warranty. The annoying part was they gave me a new set of keys as the new cap isn't keyed to my current set. Kind of mad they didn't ask about this, I'm not ok carrying an extra key just for my gas cap. Looks like I'm going aftermarket sooner than thought.

You can take the locking mechanismn out of the stock fuelcap, I do it on all my bikes.

Its really a minute-mod, just remove a couple of screws, and take the locking part out.