| Author | Message | ||
     Ebutch |
Battery good,Charging good, connections good.128,000 miles no trouble till now,still starts think solenoid.  | ||
| Skntpig |
Try swaping your relays first. There are two. You would think they would fail all together but I guess mine was just weak. It would eventually start just like it was a low batt. You have two, one for ignition and one for starter. I'm not sure which one mine was because I've had my wiring harness out and relocated to hide wires etc. Standard Bosh $8 at your autoparts store. | ||
| Psyclown |
Holy crap thats alot of miles!! You can hotwire it by bypassing the solenoid. If it works without clicking then you know that its your problem. | ||
| Koz5150 |
Check your ground strap between the frame and the swingarm. When I removed the bolt on the frame ther was some rust. Once I cleaned it and replaced the bolt with a stainless one my starter worked great! | ||
| Ebutch |
Thanks everyone sounds easy.Will report when I get to it.You nailed it exactly Skntpig.  | ||
| Ztferrari |
Respect for the miles......A lot of people hate on Harley Engineering but seriously, that is sexy in terms of cycle design. NOTHING can be designed to last a lifetime. The closest design consideration is 1,000,000 cycles. Think about that. And I agree w. psyclown...most likely your solenoid. BUT might as well replace the whole assembly while you are at it? | ||
| Ebutch |
Will do!!!! | ||
| Ebutch |
That I mean Jump starter test.  | ||
| Snowbees |
my x1 was doing the same thing,checked the usual- relays, earth points, connectors, battery etc, turns out it was the copper contact ring on the solenoid plunger was badly pitted. took it out and cleaned it up with a file on a lathe. Problem sorted. | ||
| Duceater |
I'm having the same issue and hopefully this may add to the knowledge base on things that are normal or should be cause for attention. I was following the troubleshooting procedure in the service manual and when I got to the point where they tell you to check for 12V at the starter relay, I found that there were only 10.34V on both hot terminals. I checked the V on battery and it registered as 12.6 (fully charged). Does this seem right? Could someone without this issue measure the voltage to the starter relay? I tried bypassing the relay and still get click, click click, so I feel that my relay is okay. I just want to rule out wiring before I go ahead and take apart my solenoid. If this is not normal, then I'd say that I have a wiring issue somewhere. (Message edited by duceater on May 06, 2010) | ||
| Hootowl |
The contacts in the solenoid are wear items, and a rebuild kit can be had for about $30. A faulty ignition switch can also cause clicking issues, since the current that drives the solenoid runs through the ignition switch. | ||
| Duceater |
That's a good point about the ignition switch, but is 10.34 volts enough to engage the solenoid if it is good? Eric | ||
| Psyclown |
I believe the solenoid opens up a straight shot of 12v from the battery to the starter. Not really sure how many volts less than 12 will activate the starter but 13.4 sounds pretty low. | ||
| Hootowl |
It does, but the current that drives the solenoid (which connects the battery to the starter motor via two side contacts and the ring contact on the solenoid plunger) goes through the ignition switch. Resistance in the ignition switch will reduce the voltage and current felt at the solenoid, which impairs its ability to electromagnetically plunge into the contacts at the end of its travel. There's a spring at the end it has to overcome in order for the ring contact to remain in contact with the two side contacts which completes the path between the battery and the starter motor. | ||
| Buellistic |
Wonder how long my OEM Solenoid will last ??? Only have a 109,212.55 miles(1997 S3T) on it as of the last ride, who knows how many STARTS that is ??? Tried for years to get Erik BUELL to buy it back so he could find out what they did when my engine/motorcycle was put together .. "MAY THE LONG LASTING BUELL BE WITH YOU'LL !!!" | ||
| Ebutch |
!28,000 miles,Thats first Starter trouble! Jumped bat to starter just winds no click,so relay is good.must be solenoid.$94.00 think that,s Right. | ||
| 5liter |
Time for a push button solenoid cover. Just in case. | ||
| Hootowl |
You don't need to buy a new solenoid, just a rebuild kit. They're pretty cheap, and fairly easy to install. Don't even need to take the starter out. Before you buy anything, take the cover off the solenoid and inspect the contacts. If they've receded more heavily on one side than the other, the ring contact on the plunger won't contact them correctly. | ||
| Orman1649 |
Just some info on my past experience........ Just because you flop a meter on your battery and it reads ~12V does not mean it is good! You need to check the battery UNDER A LOAD! Hook up your meter and hit the start button. If your 12V heads towards the floor, your battery is toast. I was out cruising around and all of a sudden my bike just died. I got it home, stuck a meter on the battery and it read 12V. I spent the next day and a half or so tearing my S1W apart, ringing out wires, checking relays, ground, and the starter...came up with nothing. Dropped a new battery in it and it spun right over. | ||
| Ebutch |
O.k. Jeff and Tested Ok Steve.My book doesn,t have A solenoid kit # just a sol.#3140-91 but I,ll ask. | ||
| Scs1 |
Sounds a lot like what my '98 S1W did. Checked and confirmed switch, relays, voltage, voltage drops, ect. The solenoid actuator contacts were getting proper voltage. While I was messing around inside the solenoid(without disconecting the battery) I noticed that when I pushed the solenoid plunger, the bike would turn over, even with out ignition on, be careful, make sure she's in neutral. There are no safety interlocks when you do this. I cleaned up the solenoid contacts and put a LITTLE grease on the solenoid plunger, not to much so it spews out and gets on your electrical contacts. After doing that I got a few starts out of it, but that was it. So, I drilled a hole in the middle of the solenoid cover and use a ball end allen key to depress the plunger manually. Starts every time. If your cheep like me and dont want to buy a new solenoid you can try this. Oh crap, I just gave out my anti theft secret. | ||
| Kalali |
I had a similar symptom but mine was intermittent. Replaced the relay and cleaned up the copper thingy in the solenoid and starts every time now. YMMV. |
