Starter Solenoid Workings

[Redneck]

Okay, this is for clarification from the many wise Electrical members.

The starter solenoid on my GS 550L has two post and a soldered on yellow with green wire stripe. The Positive from battery is attached to one post and the starter wire is attached to the other. The yellow wire with green stripe goes to the starter button. When the starter button is pressed it is suppose to send battery voltage to the starter solenoid and latching the battery post to the starter motor post internally, hence allowing the starter motor to turn over the engine.

My starter will not turn over when I push the start button. I but I am getting the 13.3 volts at the solenoid. I even put a make shift jumper from the battery and touched it to the solder joint and nothing happened. Is this a prime example of a bad starter solenoid?

Paul

[Killer2600]

Okay, this is for clarification from the many wise Electrical members.

The starter solenoid on my GS 550L has two post and a soldered on yellow with green wire stripe. The Positive from battery is attached to one post and the starter wire is attached to the other. The yellow wire with green stripe goes to the starter button. When the starter button is pressed it is suppose to send battery voltage to the starter solenoid and latching the battery post to the starter motor post internally, hence allowing the starter motor to turn over the engine.

My starter will not turn over when I push the start button. I but I am getting the 13.3 volts at the solenoid. I even put a make shift jumper from the battery and touched it to the solder joint and nothing happened. Is this a prime example of a bad starter solenoid?

Paul

Sounds like you have volt meter so check the voltage at the solder joint (or wire if you prefer) while pressing the start button, with the clutch pulled in unless you bypassed it. Solder joints like to oxidize on the outside and become difficult to probe voltage on, or as you may have seen - send voltage to, so you may have to poke at or scratch the solder to get a clean read. You could also just stick the wire before the joint.

You have the solenoid right but the one thing you missed is that the 4th connection is the ground connection which is done through the case of the solenoid. If you can't read battery voltage between battery positive and the metal casing/mounts of the solenoid then the low current side won't function. It's not picky about a little voltage drop on the ground but there has to be a definite connection.

[Steve]

To make sure you have battery and starter connections, use an old screwdriver to short between the two large terminals on the solenoid. Yeah, there is going to be some arcing and sparking, but the starter should turn.

Like Killer said, you should also see battery voltage at the solder connection when the starter button is pushed. To remove the button itself from the equation, use your jumper from the battery terminal to the solder pad. You do not need to have the key on for these tests, if you are not testing the starter button itself.

.

[tom203]

Like killer2600 said,make sure the solenoid case is grounded. Then use a jumper wire from battery positive to green/yellow wire terminal on solenoid to test- should click, regardless of bad switches anywhere. Make sure to be in neutral and on centerstand for safety's sake.

[Redneck]

Thanks for all the feed back. I have checked everything every one mentioned except that fourth connection. I will verify it is properly grounded this afternoon after work. Hoping that will solve the problem.

Paul

[Redneck]

Well I will say a big Thank You to Killer2600. I had painted the Airbox and because of the way it is connected there is no natural ground on the box. I went by last night took one of my spare ground lines put a connector on it bolted it behind the Ignitor Solenoid plate and whammo the starter spun like a champ. Not to take away from all the other help in here from Steve and Tom. Now all my electronics are working and just have to be made a little neater and it will be good to go.

Paul

[tom203]

Hurry up- it might warm up again here!

[Redneck]

Soon as the Carb Synch is done and all the bugs are worked out, I am going to try and organize a Maine and New Hampshire ride for Middle of May before I leave.

Paul

[Redman]

.....
......I had painted the Airbox and because of the way it is connected there is no natural ground on the box. I went by last night took one of my spare ground lines put a connector on it bolted it behind the Ignitor Solenoid plate and whammo the starter spun like a champ. ....
.....
Paul

Paul, good that you found that.

More about the grounding of the battery box:

Yes, that battery box needs to be grounded with a ground wire because sometimes the battery box is not otherwize well connected to the frame (such as in your case, recent painting.)
ANd there is a black/white wire in the wiring harness for that very purpose (on 80 and 82 anyway). But sometimes even that is not good eneough.

When you said "spare ground wire", do you mean the black/white wire in the wiring harness? THat black/white wire in wirining harnes is suppose to be connected to where yiou described, the mounting bolt of solenoid.
Or do you mean you have added some ground wire from the battery box to battery negitive (or bike frame)?

Sometimes having that black/white wire connected to the battery box is good enough to operate the solenoid, but still maybe not a very good ground and will effect the charging system since the R/R negitive is also conencted to the battery box.

And even if that black/white wire in the wiring harness is connected to the battery box, it really isnt a ground wire unless the other end(s) are in fact well connected to ground and battery negitive. That "other end" is usaaly connected to frame up under the seat behind the battery box, but have seen that connection all corroded, or worse, all burnt off (like after R/R failure).
So it is recommended to do add your own ground wire (from battery box to batt neg) in addition to that black/white wire that is in the wiring hartness. ANd have the R/R ground wire landed at that same point on the battery box.

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[Redneck]

Thank you REDMAN for that very informative post. Yes you are correct in assuming the extra wire I speak of was indeed the ground meant for the Solenoid. I had just cut the eye type connection off the other day because I did not know what it went to and did not want a spare flapping ground wire. I added a female spade connector to it and was going to use it for something later possibly. After Killer put up his post I realized what that wire was for. I do have my ground wires in the harness directly hooked up to the battery ground. My fuse block from Eastern Beaver had a whole side just for grounds and I hooked my battery to that and the ground from my harness into the one of the 8 fuse block ground connections. I directly grounded my engine to the negative terminal for the battery my R/R directly to the battery and my fuse block directly too the battery. I should be good to go now. Thanks once again for the information.

Paul