Starter Silonoid crapped out

[Guest]

Bike not mine... 83 GS550E

The starter is not getting juice when you hit the starter button you hear the solenoid engage but the starter doesn't go... I shorted the prongs on it and the starter fired...conclusion I think the solenoid is shot. I tried digging for a thread I read many months ago about people hitting up their hardware store and using a lawnmower one to replace it. However I guess our hardware stores in the area here aren't as good as the ones who said they found it at theirs.

Does anyone have a spare, or know a website that we can order a swap, better yet purchase it and mail it up here?

[Steve]

Expand your search to include Auto Zone, Pep Boys, Wal Mart, K-Mart, Sears, etc. They all have the solenoid you are looking for.

Certainly at least one of them is nearby.

.

[Matchless]

You did not say if you also checked out the operation of the actuating coil as well?
The solenoid usually has one side of the coil grounded to the casing and the other side is a wire to the starter button - killswitch - ignition that provided battery 12v to the other side. If either of these are missing due to a bad connection then the coil will not operate and the solenoid will not switch power to the starter. Usualy quite a few poeple only discover this after replacing the solenoid.
Just pull the thin single wire off the solenoid and briefly touch it to the positive battery cable lug, if that works then the solenoid tests OK.

[Steve]

You did not say if you also checked out the operation of the actuating coil as well?

The starter is not getting juice when you hit the starter button you hear the solenoid engage but the starter doesn't go...

Sounds like it's engaging, but not making contact. Not sure if you can take the solenoid apart and clean the contacts, but replacements are readily available.

.

[posplayr]

Sounds like it's engaging, but not making contact. Not sure if you can take the solenoid apart and clean the contacts, but replacements are readily available.

.

I have disassembled an OEM solenoid on my GS750EX. It came apart nicely. The only trick was to desolder the +side of the energizer coil lead. It all comes apart.

If the coil is still intact, it is hard to imagine that you could not simply restore operation by cleaning the shorting bar on the inside. In fact the bar can even be flipped over if the one side is pitted.

Assemble in reverse and resolder the coil wire and done.

[Macmatic]

I have disassembled an OEM solenoid on my GS750EX. It came apart nicely. The only trick was to desolder the +side of the energizer coil lead. It all comes apart.

Same here and it's still working fine four + years later.

/\/\ac

[Matchless]

Sorry my mistake, never saw that bit that you heard the solenoid operating - a sign of altzheimers light I think!

[Kcwiro]

Good Points

Well can't hurt to try and repair the existing one...suppose since it is not working right now their can't be anything else to lose atm.

Question:

I am curious, can you leave it disconnected / off the bike and still have the bike run fine? Just so we are free to work but not have the bike out of commission while we are fixing it

[chuckycheese]

Solenoid

It sounds to me like this might be one of the rare times when the solenoid really might be bad; even so, I think it's still possible it's not. When you cross the solenoid posts with a screwdriver, you're getting power to the starter in a very efficient way (heavy wire and very short distance between battery and solenoid with nothing in between.

With the conventional starter button route, there's more stuff involved so, it seems to me, that something else could possibly be affecting the 'jolt' that the solenoid is getting. Am I thinking about this correctly??

[Matchless]

Well can't hurt to try and repair the existing one...suppose since it is not working right now their can't be anything else to lose atm.

Question:

I am curious, can you leave it disconnected / off the bike and still have the bike run fine? Just so we are free to work but not have the bike out of commission while we are fixing it

Its likely repairable depending on the damage or fault inside and you can run the bike without it as it is actually only a heavy duty switch for turning the starter and sometimes gives a connection or tap off point from the hot side for battery feed to the fuses or other powered items.

[Kcwiro]

Anything is possible

...With the conventional starter button route, there's more stuff involved so, it seems to me, that something else could possibly be affecting the 'jolt' that the solenoid is getting. Am I thinking about this correctly??

It is possible, if the bike was not in such cosmetic and mechanical shape I would be inclined to agree something could be up elsewhere, by the sound of the solenoid when the button is pressed I don't think we are having a bleed out elsewhere. I'll report back when we get it squared away.

[chuckycheese]

Doesn't take much

My 750 is also in particularly nice shape but, through the years, I've had the seemingly smallest problems cause some confusing headaches...most especially electrical stuff.

The solenoid threads always interest me because it seems like it almost never turns out to be the problem. But, like I said in my first post, I'm guessing that's really what's going on this time. Good luck and keep us informed!

[Kcwiro]

no luck

My 750 is also in particularly nice shape but, through the years, I've had the seemingly smallest problems cause some confusing headaches...most especially electrical stuff.

The solenoid threads always interest me because it seems like it almost never turns out to be the problem. But, like I said in my first post, I'm guessing that's really what's going on this time. Good luck and keep us informed!

*sigh... well I wanted to update this thread. I got over there and we took the solenoid apart and I flipped the plunger 'cylinder thing with spring' thing around and re-assembled it ( can't take the lower part out.... ) Anyway put it back in and plugged it up but still no dice... the thing makes a fast buzzing now instead... Think this part is toast, there is not much inside that thing to mess up - I am out of ideas with it...ideas anyone?

[chuckycheese]

Solenoid

Sounds to me like it really is the solenoid (or at least it is now!). Maybe you can buy one from one of the other guys; there's a bunch of extras out there. I hope that fixes your problem. Let us know and thanks for the update!

[ktp1598]

Run a wire from a good ground to the case of the solenoid. Mine wouldn't work either until I tried that.