Right get ready for some electric noobness. Now when I stick the multimeter on both prongs of the starter solenoid I get whatever the battery is and thats going to the starter it seems around 12.5v also when I check the two prong cable going into the starter solenoid am guessng its the signal from the ignition button i also get 12.5v does that mean my solenoid is stuck open? since voltage is passing to the starter but always passing to the starter? so how do I bypass it and connect the one sweet wire to the battery? because connecting the starter directly to the red bit seemed like a bad idea haha
it's crude, but with an old spanner or similar, you bridge the gap between the two posts on the solenoid quite firmly, and be prepared for sparks.
But how? To avoid the sparks and all. I assume I need to ground it on the frame but not sure how to do that?
as above ^ if solenoid was seized in the "on" position (which does happen) then engine would churn constantly if everything else was working properly.
eureka. am too much of a wimp to keep them bridged for a long time but the starter motor kicks into life. ive already ordered a spare solenoid but that won't be here till 21st so ill see if I can strip this one down
obviously avoid doing neary anything flammable but if you touch it on firmly it will only spark initially. You will probably be left with small arcing marks on terminal nuts and spanner it's true.
Good news, before you order (sorry - too late!), as you have a meter, you could try (set to volts DC) going between small wire (removed) that plugs onto solenoid and earth, and then with ignition on, try pushing the starter button to confirm that you get 12 volts approx. If you don't get a reading then could be a problem with starter switch or a broken wire/continuity problem.
ah tis fine I ordered it yayday. so yeah if i plug my meter into that wire, both positive and negative I get full 12 volts. or does earth mean somehting entirely different?
Good News, new solenoid it is then, even a wiggle of the little plug can make solenoid work so worth checking for this, and don't throw the old one away. *I should have explained starter switch test better, it's the partly red lead that goes to handlebar switch that you check when pushing starter button, but you worked this out obviously.
Indeed but it was cranking fine before, so realistically it may not fix the bike at all. Just get it cranking again. But I think the lessons learned are much more valuable
first gear is ridic hard to turn by hand...could my engine of killed itself? ignore me when I did the belts i was turning it in 6th. 1st is obviously gonna be brutal
