I recently bought a 2010 arctic cat 450 used and it was running great for about a week. Then one day it wouldn’t start, it was turning over but wouldn’t start.

I don’t know anything about ATVs or cars or anything mechanically and proceeded to make some very bad decisions.

I thought I should try jumping the battery… except I wasn’t sure what the battery looked like so I later found out I was jumping the solenoid… with my car.. and the car was on… which I know now is a big no no. After jumping the solenoid like an idiot the engine is no longer turning over, when I press the start but the solenoid just clicks so I’m guessing that the starter motor initially was working since it was turning over, but when I jumped the solenoid with so much power it broke the starter? Does anyone know if that’s possible?

I used a multimeter to test the battery and the solenoid and they both appear to be working fine. Any suggestions on if what my dumbass did could break the starter? And also, would it be the starter that’s actually broken or maybe the wires connecting the solenoid to the starter?

Thanks

 

Don't think it is possible to break the starter by jumping it. I always go for a 12v incandescent test lamp when testing starters as you are checking power to it, not just volts. Put lamp between starter positive and earth, press start button, if solenoid clicks but lamp doesn't light, you have a faulty solenoid. If lamp lights, you have a faulty starter. Check the lead at solenoid and motor are tight, also earth leads from battery to frame and engine, but it is usually brushes that are worn out or sticking, in starter. Maybe best to get someone who knows about motorcycles to fix the original problem though.

 

Thanks for the response. I’ll have to go out and get one of those test lamps. I did follow a YouTube tutorial and took the battery and starter off, connected the starter directly to the battery and nothing happened so I think it must have went out. I ordered a replacement and I am going to do the same test with the battery once I have the new one to make sure it works and I just wasn’t doing something wrong.

If the new starter spins hooked up directly to battery and then doesn’t when I hook everything back up it must be the solenoid… but if it comes to that I’ll take your advise and try that other test as well.

 

If you do buy a test lamp, make sure it has an incandescent bulb. The boss bought me a new lamp a couple of years ago, Full of LEDs and electronics, completely useless, as it will light with almost no power in the circuit, so worse than a voltmeter for that, and is polarity sensitive. Sometimes it is easier to stick the probe on the neg and the clip on the pos side, but the LED one won't work like that.