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Morning all! Just picked up an '87 Softail that had been sitting in a heated parking garage since '17. Turns out sitting in MN underground parking with all those salty cars isn't all it's cracked up to be. Still, got a great deal. Going to be a fun project. It does need work but want a quick shake down, so I know what I'm getting into for the winter work.
Fresh battery and oil. Cranked great and got it to pop off with starting fluid and run on its own for a bit on the old gas. Good sign!! Time to quit for the evening so I put it on a battery charger. Hour or so later, it was fully charged so I unplugged the charger. When disconnected, I could hear a low buzzing/crackling sound coming from under the oil tank. Sounded like a short but no smoke or burnt wire smell. Disconnected the negative terminal and the noise stopped. Time for a break. Spent the next couple days going through the carb and petcock. Put all back together last night, hoping to bring the thunder. Same crackling sound when I connected the negative cable (no surprise). Ignition on, lights come on, and just a click when I hit the starter button. Cables are good. connections are tight and clean. Volts started at 12.72 and dropped to 12.69 when the negative cable is connected with the ignition off.
Should be and easy enough to pull the solenid cover, to pull the solenoid plunger assembly out to give it od and solenoid channel ID a good cleaning.
Also, touch of dielectric grease on the plunger assembly surfaces (not the contact ring or base contacts) will help to keep the corrosion from building up the plunger sides and channel.
Also, if you have the push button starter solenoid cover in play, makes sure that the button is not causing the solenoid plunger from being pushed inward enough to cause light contact of the plunger ring to contact bars. Hence could be that thick enough gasket was not used, or could be button is not spring popping all the way back out in the cover instead.
And to point out, solenoid plunger assembly removed, and reconnect the battery to figure out if its the solenoid itself the problem, or maybe a starter relay that has semi cooked instead,
Note, pull seat and side panels, to make sure problem is not a relay on the way out,and what you are hearing to begin with.
Should be and easy enough to pull the solenid cover, to pull the solenoid plunger assembly out to give it od and solenoid channel ID a good cleaning.
Also, touch of dielectric grease on the plunger assembly surfaces (not the contact ring or base contacts) will help to keep the corrosion from building up the plunger sides and channel.
Also, if you have the push button starter solenoid cover in play, makes sure that the button is not causing the solenoid plunger from being pushed inward enough to cause light contact of the plunger ring to contact bars. Hence could be that thick enough gasket was not used, or could be button is not spring popping all the way back out in the cover instead.
And to point out, solenoid plunger assembly removed, and reconnect the battery to figure out if its the solenoid itself the problem, or maybe a starter relay that has semi cooked instead,
Note, pull seat and side panels, to make sure problem is not a relay on the way out,and what you are hearing to begin with.
Those directions are for a Nippondenso gear reduction starter. The OP has the earlier style Hitachi starter with an external solenoid. I would replace the solenoid and also make sure that there is no voltage going to the "s" terminal on the solenoid. There is three terminals on the solenoid, two big ones and one small one. The "s" terminal is the small one that is in series with the starter relay and the starter switch.
Thanks for the info! Looke like it might be a deeper issue than I hoped. Tried to test the "s" terminal. Hooked the battery up and the buzz got really bad, so I aborted and disconnected the negative cable. Pulled the solenoid and the plunger didn't move very smooth. Pulled the derby cover and it looks like something is physically jammed between the solenoid plunger and the starter shaft. Then gave up for the night...
Not too worried about figuring out what's jammed and fixing that. Mystery is going to be figuring out why the issue started with the bike on a battery charger? It started fine, charged the battery, unplugged the charger and the buzz started?? Or just crazy coincidence?
Starter clutch is a bit sketchy and will be replaced over the winter. That's what was binding up. I was able to jump the solenoid and get it to turn over and fire up so the solenoid is alive. Found the starter relay hanging under the oil tank, in front of the lower fender. Went to pull the relay out and it came apart. Looks like it got wet and cooked. In hindsight, that buzz I was hearing sounded like my old AFX transformer. Makes sense now.
Would check up line of the relay, since coil side burning up on the relay, means that something like the starter button was sticking, and still sending power to the coil side of the relay enough full time to leave the coil side in a semi charged state.
Hence not enough power on the coil side to fully fire the relay so it made the secondary contact to to send power to the starter, but enough that the starter relay coil was kept under a light enough load full time, to burn the coil side up that way.
Would check up line of the relay, since coil side burning up on the relay, means that something like the starter button was sticking, and still sending power to the coil side of the relay enough full time to leave the coil side in a semi charged state.
Hence not enough power on the coil side to fully fire the relay so it made the secondary contact to to send power to the starter, but enough that the starter relay coil was kept under a light enough load full time, to burn the coil side up that way.
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'87 Softail Starter/Solenoid Buzz
