My buddy has a late 84 FL and the starter selinoid kicks out when you try to start it. We have replace the sellinoid and the starter but it still does it. Everything seems to be working properly but when we do a voltage drop test at start the voltage drops to 0. We have replace the relay and checked all the wires, they all looked good. Should we just go ahead and add the second relay or is there some other things we should be looking at. Thanks for any advice.

 

I would start by replacing the battery.

 

Been done. This one really has us stumped.

 

Still got the red bike?

 

Does the starter solenoid just click when you hit the button? Or does it initially engage the starter, then freewheel? If you jump across the two solenoid terminals with a heavy jumper, does the starter engage? If you jump the low tension lead at the solenoid, does it crank?


If your battery, whether new or not has the proper surface charge, but you watch your voltage reading on the high tension cable at the starter, drop to zero at the hit of the button, I would remove the cables, hook up your ohmmeter and wiggle test them looking for high resistance. Or better yet, replace them.


If any issues with battery/cables/connections are remedied, and the issue persists, and voltage still drops to zero, you have a shorted starter motor, or something in engine, comp, chain, clutch, trans is physically keeping the engine from turning, thus causing the heavy draw. If you can test amperage on the starter lead while the button is engaged, this would be good info to know.


I don't recall if 84 FLT was one of them, but some bikes in that era, like 84-86 wide glide, had the little square relay, and a big heavy one mounted under the powertrain.

 

Have you checked both ends of battery cables for good connections?
Also check ignition switch for good connections.

 

To rule out problems with the Starter/solenoid unplug the power wire from your solenoid then hook your volt meter to that wire and neg battery post.

Hit your start button again and see what it says.

If it's still 0 then at least you ruled out the starter solenoid.

 

Are you referring to the green 'trigger' wire? And if there is 12.0+ volts then the solenoid may be the culprit?

 

It's the green wire on my '95 but I'm not sure what color it is on the older models.

If he is getting full battery voltage at the green wire when the starter button is pushed with a new battery I would start with the solenoid and then the starter 'cause you know it's getting power to the starter when it's supposed to so everything else is working like it's supposed to.

 

Gotcha. This is a nice simple thread to follow, and his buddy should be able to at least start to isolate the problem.