starter soloniod on '72

[DougXS2]

when I first got my project bike it had a dummy starter (just the shell of one)....so I purchased a used one. and it seems to work fine. anyway, fast forward a couple of years I;m nearing completion of the project and I'm back on trying the starter again.

Now when I hit the decompression/starter switch, all I get it a really loud solonoid click and nothing from the starter, and no engine rotation, etc.

wondering how to check to see if its the solonoid or the starter motor that might be at fault?

I have a picture of the solonoid wiring but cant post it till later....

 

[DougXS2]

maybe this will help?

I see where the pos (+) cable comes in at the top left and where the blue/white striped wire and brown wire are attached but not sure what actually sends juice to the starter?

should there be another wire coming off of the lower right post/nut?

 

[DougXS2]

should there be something coming off of the lower right terminal?

 

[Brian902]

Yes, you are right, there should be another 6 or 8 gauge wire (battery wire available at your auto store with ends already attached or lawnmower dealer, they would have the smaller size which is more suited to motorcycles) running from the other side of the solenoid to the insulated bolt on your starter motor.

The solenoid is just a big magnetic switch that connects that hot (positive lead) from the battery to the starter. Controlled by the blue/white wire and red/white to activate the connection inside that black box or solenoid.

After hooking everything up, applying 12 volts to the RED/White and with the Blue/White going to ground through the handlebar switch you should hear the starter wind over.

 

[DougXS2]

ok...that might make more sense. I do have a large gauge wire coming off of the body of the starter.... but not the ends (like you'd expect on a car type starter. This wire is just attached to the curved 'cylinder' side of the starter and currently goes nowhere as the end is just frayed...

 

[Brian902]

Right and it should have an end like the one on the solenoid now, so it can attach to that other bolt.

I edited post 4 because the other two wires (red/white and blue/white) weren't explained properly.

Red/White is the positive(+) feed to the solenoid. This gets power through the ignition switch when it is turned on.
Blue/White is the negative(-) feed to the solenoid. When you press the Start button this gets ground out to comlete the circuit.