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'93 FLSTC and I believe my solenoid has taken a dump. The reason is that the battery is known good, relay was replaced less than a year ago and clicks but starter won't engage via the start button or the push button on the end of the solenoid. When the bike does start the starter feels and sound strong.
Can the solenoid be rebuilt or replaced with the starter in the bike or do I really have to lift that damn oil tank to get the starter out and work on it on the bench?
I rebuilt the solenoid on my chopper without taking the starter off the bike. It did not fix my problem. Youtoobes wuz wrong!! It didn't seem logical to me, but teh youtoobez said it would fix it!! Anyway, after there was no change, I pulled the starter off and I would say that it was, in the long run and with air tools, probably easier to just pull the the primary and pull the starter. The replacement starter was only a little over a hundred on amazon. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TFCEFLY
and that's with a new solenoid and the starter clutch, which was what was wrong with mine anyway. And it was a good thing it was bad and I pulled the primary, because that was a total mess.
If he can push the plunger directly on the starter solenoid and it doesn't crank the engine over it's not in the wiring. You definitely need a starter solenoid rebuild.
Yep and once you do one (I guess depending on the bike)
you can do it on the side of the road if you had too.
Don't lose the chrome ball when you pull out the plunger.
The videos I watched about it didn't even mention it.
No greasing anything inside either. Clean and dry.
Last edited by Ray on the drums; Mar 9, 2021 at 07:33 AM.
One of the contacts you need to replace is in a very tight area, not sure it will be accessible with the starter installed on a Softail.
Yeah, it is a pain to remove the starter on a Softail.
The best way that I have found to remove the oil tank is to remove the rear wheel and the fender extension that goes behind the oil tank area. This will make the oil tank easier to remove.
Problem with replacing the contacts is that often as not, the reason they get funky is that the electromagnet gets weak, not making a quick, hard, solid connection.
The electromagnet is an integral part of the assembly for which there is no longer a replacement.
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Never worked on an Evo starter.
