I have a 1979 XLH 1000 Sportster and it will not start. It was running, I did not get the choke out far enough, and it died as I was leaving the driveway. When I pushed the button to start it back up, nothing happened. The lights are fine, I ohmed out the start button, ohmed out the run switch, have a charger on the battery to make sure it has enough power. When I turn the key the lights turn on like normal and when I push the button it does not do anything at all. I am not real familiar with this bike as I just got it and rode it for a couple days when this happened. Any ideas or pointers?

 

From the starter switch the +12VDC is fed to a starter relay. The starter relay feeds +12VDC to the starter solenoid. If you press the starter switch and hear nothing at all, check the relay. You can test the solenoid circuit by jumping the long large terminal on the solenoid to the small terminal. If the solenoid is OK, it'll pick up and engage the starter.

 

Welcome from TN. I agree with what Skip said to do.

John TN

 

welcome from eastern nc! hope you get that puppy fixed soon!

 

Sounds like you got some good advice on your first post. Hope you'll stick around and enjoy the rest of the forums...

Mac

 

Welcome to the forums and be sure to let us know if that fixed your problem or not. Sounds like good advice to me.

 

Welcome to the forum. Glad you found us and hope you'll get everything worked out with the ride.

 

You had some really good pointers there and I feel that I know more of where the problem is. I shorted the starter solenoid and it did fire. Then I put the volt meter on the relay to see the 12volts hit it when I pushed the start button. In putting a meter across the relay as I push the start button I see some change, but not 100% on/off change. This would pretty much confirm that it is the relay switch?

[IMG]local://upfiles/3564/07935BC7239449F59519D8A9923F24EA.jpg[/IMG]

 

Here's a link that will show you the wiring for the relay https://www.hdforums.com/m_66689/tm.htm To test a starter relay and circuit You have to use the volt meter on the 12V in and the 12V out (30/51 and 87) to check the main circuit,you should have it in(30/51) and when you press the start button, it should be 12 v on the out terminal (87) if the relay operated, if not then apply 12V to the trigger terminal (86) to verify the solenoid operation. If it works doing this, your problem is in the switch circuit from the relay to the switch

 

If you put the meter across the relay's large terminals that would be across the contacts feeding the solenoid. If the meter didn't drop to 0VDC when you hit the starter button, then the relay is probably shot. If you want, jump those contacts and see if the solenoid picks up. The relays have a tendency to get water in them when they age and the seal breaks, probably from all the vibration. The water deteriorates the contacts to the point where they will still pass some current, but not enough to pick up the solenoid.

Being an inveterate tinkerer, I always chunk the relay and wire the starter switch directly to the solenoid. Of course the little switch can't handle the current and burns out, so I have an excuse to rewire the bike and put a heavy duty switch that can handle the current somewhere besides the handlebars.

After all, muttersickles don't have wires on the bars! [8D]