Tired of my freaking solenoid....starting last week she just keeps the starter spinning and spinning until I can either bang the living fvck out of the solenoid with a hammer, or pull off my seat and undo the red terminal of my battery.

So ran down to local Indy shop and picked up a new one. All he had was some generic brand for 29 bucks and an Accel brand for 69 or so....both made in China....so being desperate I just grabbed the Accel.

Pulled off old solenoid...pulled cap off too, she's all roasted in there, that copper washer on the plunger all pitted and blackened from arc'ing bad. Put new solenoid on...first start....surer than dog crap she also sticks and keeps the started cranking away at a high pitch!

Pull red terminal of battery...all quiet. Touch the lead to the battery post again..and starter spins right away. Pulled solenoid, put back, went to start a second time....started OK and let go. Shut off engine, started again...starter stuck AGAIN...had to pull red battery terminal.

Pull it all again. This time pull that little green cable from the middle of the solenoid...touch red battery lead, starter spins.

Fork mechanism "appears" to me to move OK..engaging pinion to clutch housing gearing. Sometimes seems stubborn to push pinion back in...but I understand normally spinning gears make that work easier.

Question..that tampon looking plunger thing that goes into the solenoid...I greased that with lithium last time (last year) I had the solenoid off..should that be greased or oiled? Or kept dry clean..blast it with carb cleaner and leave it dry?

Other note...that little shim that the solenoid mounts onto...I think the prior owner made one and it's too thin, as the solenoid leans "in" a little once you tighten the two mount screws. So it's not parallel with primary sort of speak..it's leaning in, when you look down that black foam gasket shows up a lot towards the outside, like the solenoid is bent inwards. Maybe I'll put two washers in there to make up for the gap and hopefully make it more parallel with the primary.

 

Long stud or short stud attached to Starter????

EDIT; SSS
Short Stud to Starter...

 

How old's the starter ? When the solenoid fry's the copper ring like that it's because they are pulling heavy amps to make the starter work. This can be a couple things first being bad battery cables or loose connections particularly the frame ground, older cables while looking ok can corrode up inside the sheathing and they will draw like crazy. Also not having the correct shim between the primary and solenoid can keep the washer from fully engaging the contacts inside the cap, burns up pretty quick.

Next issue is the brushes & armature in the starter could on it's last legs , they will spin like cray with no load but suck heavy amps when engaged. I personally run 6ga. ground to the back of my starters and use star washers in between cable connections to insure a good bite.

That spacer is a 1/4" thick or at least the ones I have are but those import solenoids I find the flanges on them aren't alway square so they kick it out at an angle sometimes. Been know to bevel that spacer a bit to align things on bad ones. Plunger, I lube the spring a little and leave the fat part dry, even with the rubber booty in place some oil mist gets in there.

 

Believe the service manual when it says don't grease the worm threads on the starter shaft that the pinion(starter gear) rides on. This will cause problems with sticking.

 

I am going to tear it all apart tonight, but I know I kept the cables the same as when I took it apart..the one that was on the short bottom stud went back on that one, the one for the long stud on top went back on that one. The bottom cable had a different sheathing. If I had them backwards before, it would have never worked correctly, right? She had been running, although unreliably (frequent sticking) for a while. But if cables were backwards she would have 100% problems I would think.

 

When I bought the bike about 3 years ago, prior owner had recently replaced the starter. I have had the starter out (when I pulled the jugs last year)...she visually looks very new. No labels/stickers on it, either hitatchi type or all ballz.

Also last spring I took all cables 'tween starter and solenoid out...cleaned them well, refastened. cables visually looked "OK"...but perhaps it's a good point to replace them with heavier guage.

Been pondering getting one of them manual level type solenoid replacements, but one thing I don't like about those...picturing stalling her in some weird situation where she stalls and I need to start her in a hurry while in gear...and having that limitation of the left hand needing to be on the clutch...right hand on brake, and then how to start?

Was thinking about beveling that shim....but 2x solenoids sittin' crooked the same way...got me to thinking prior owner must have lost original shim and fabricated some replacement that is too thin. Hopefully two washers under the flange on both bolts will have the solenoid flange stand out farther and square her down right once I tighten those two bolts. Gonna be fun trying to do that bottom bolt with 2x washers...I'm sure I'll be dropping them back there in no mans land and cursing a lot tonight.
Will not grease that tampon plunger this time....last time I coated with some axle grease...I'll blast her with carb cleaner and just make sure the spring inside her is oiled.

 

Gotta put a kill switch in there...I'm guessing it ain't too good for the starter to be spinning like a banshee when the solenoid sticks. She starts whirring up a heck of a high pitched whine. Pain in the butt having to carry a hammer in the saddlebag and hopping off and whacking that solenoid over the top of the head...or scramble to rip the seat off and unscrew the hot battery lead.

 

if you wire it like this it will never run on again and it will make the solenoid work better

 

Grrr....this is getting frustrating.
Used 2x washers under solenoid flange, between it..and the shim. Only dropped 1x washer back there around drive belt pulley, you can envision how difficult that is to get those 2x bolts in there with a pair of washers and the shim.

Pulled the pinion gear shaft...(what a pain prying those forks off of the throw pulley..with them little nipple nubs)...cleaned it up, put it back in...managed to get the forks snapped back into it.

Put outer primary cover back on. Not tightened much yet.
Cleaned + and - cables and bolted on...and the little green middle one.
Undid my main ground on the frame under the seat...sanded down, sanded - cable tabs...fastened back on.
Cleaned + tabs going to + terminal on battery...fastened back on (only 1x spark shower...screwdriver to frame on a slip..oops!)

Went to start it...solenoid sounds like she's engaging...but starter wont spin her over. Either battery died a bit from all the mishaps before....or something like that pinion gear and fork setup behind the solenoid is binding up when it throws the pinion over the clutch housing gear.

Got charger on battery now..she's taking some good juice.

//frustrated

 

Skip the washers won't do what you think J&P has the correct one in a kit for $4
http://www.jpcycles.com/search/searc...012733&Ntk=All


I feel your pain try the troubles your having then throw in a slight offset clutch pack that only lets the bendix engage about 1/2 a tooth on the ring gear and 11.7 to 1 compression, why the kicker and I are such good friends.