The solenoid putting power to the starter motor is what MAKES starter motor spin! It's the spinning of the starter motor that forces the jackshaft to come out and engage the ring gear - not the other way around.

As Dan said, if your starter is spinning, then the solenoid has already done its job (by pulling in the plunger and making the electrical contacts that cause electricity to flow to the starter motor, making it spin.) If the starter motor is spinning and the jackshaft comes out and engages the ring gear and then everything stops, then most likely your battery doesn't have enough power in it to turn over the engine. It's not just the voltage at the contacts - it's the number of "Cold Cranking Amps" - the amount of electrical current - that the battery can supply. A bad battery make make the starter motor spin, but can't supply enough CCAs to turn the engine over.

It's a known issue that on many Evo Harleys there is too much internal resistance in the wiring to cause the solenoid to pull the plunger in fully when you mash the starter button (the Click of Death, or Dreaded Click), and if that's the problem you could try putting a relay in that circuit to cause the full cranking power of the battery to be applied to the solenoid (to pull in the plunger) and to the starter motor (to turn over the engine). However, since you said that the starter motor IS spinning, and thus the solenoid has pulled the plunger in and completed the electrical circuit to the starter motor, I don't think that's your problem. If your battery is marginal though, putting in the relay might help you by supplying the full battery power directly to the starter motor.

It could also be the starter motor itself having an internal short that prevents it from developing the torque to turn the engine over, even if it's supplied with enough electrical power from the battery. The fact that you said the starter got wet is cause for concern here. It at least needs to dry out internally before it will work properly again, if internal dampness is the problem.

If the starter spins but doesn't cause the jackshaft to even come out to engage the ring gear, it's either your battery doesn't have enough CCAs to cause the starter motor to spin fast enough to force the the jackshaft to come out, or the starter clutch could be bad - as Dan also said.

 

Chop, is the starter motor spinning when you push the button?

If the pinion gear engages the ring gear and the starter motor runs (but the engine does not turn over) when you push the button, it is probably the starter clutch.

If you just hear a click, and the pinion gear engages the ring gear but the starter motor does not run, it is probably burned contacts in the solenoid.

 

Anyone have a good solenoid rebuild parts supplier that they use? I may need to pull the primary cover to pull out the whole starter as well so I am going to need a new gasket as well. I am new to the Harley world and I am learning the ropes...

 

Don't know where you are, but look in the yellow pages and find a reputable starter/ generator/alternator rebuilder in your area. around here they charge about $90-$100 for a rebuild and heavy duty clutch. That way you have some kind of warranty.

 

Alright... Here goes. I was getting the infamous "click of death" on my bike. Just got it here in Germany after sitting in military storage for a year while I was in Korea. I know the battery is dead but it should still crank when getting jumped from another bike. It wont turn over and if it does it happens barely once. I pulled the plugs and it turns over like a champ. threw the plugs back in and same no start. What does this tell you? I am guessing the starter is just weak?

 

The starter could be weak, or the battery might not be able to provide sufficient amperage to the starter to turn over the engine with the plugs in. When you take the plugs out, there is no compression taking place, so it's easy to turn the engine over. You can turn it over easily by hand with the plugs out...

 

I hear you on that but if its getting jumped its the same as having a good battery right?

 

You don`t have to remove the starter to rebuild the solenoid. It`s easy to do right on the bike.

 

Yeah - if you're jumping it, technically you are getting the current from the jumping vehicle's electrical system.

You can rebuild the solenoid on the bike. The solenoid rebuild kit is just a new plunger and new copper contacts. I did that on Bertha, but it didn't help - I still got the click. My theory is that over the years the copper windings in the solenoid build up electrical resistance and eventually just can't pull the plunger in anymore. The only way I made the click go away was by installing a whole new Ultima starter. It's worked fine ever since.

 

Well, to get back to my problem, I loosened all the conections and tightened them back up,, still just a whirling/whining noise, pinion gear gets pushed into the ring gear and thats it, if I continue to hold down the starter button the whining/whirling continues and the pinion continues to be engaged. Have the battery off, going to take it to get checked tomarrow, is a HD brand, have primary cover off, will pull starter tomarrow and have it checked out after I find the battery is good,if it's bad, I will buy another,can't beleive it went like that but stranger things have happened. Depending on the cost of getting whatever is not working, solenoid or starter, I may just get another Ultima starter and have this one fixed for a spare, down the road.