I have the exact same problem on the exact same machine.Did you ever identify the issue?I even cleaned up the contact points at the pushbutton,all wires and soder points looked good.Now I'm scratching my head.

 

Five year old post, doubt if you will get anything from bcl319. Assuming you have done all that previous posters suggest. Firstly is your battery flat? If it is charged and sound, are you getting a single click from the solenoid when you press the start button? If yes, the problem is wires to starter motor loose, (this includes earths) or faulty solenoid, or faulty starter. Check those thick wires for loose terminals, put a 12v test lamp between motor live terminal and earth, ignition on, press start button, if the lamp lights, faulty starter, if solenoid clicks, but lamp doesn't light faulty solenoid. If solenoid doesn't click, the fault is in the thin wires going to the solenoid. This circuit varies considerably depending on maker, most have a lock-out from either neutral light wire or brake light wire, to prevent the bike being started unless it is either in neutral or has a brake on.

 

We have an older (late 90s early 2000s) Kawasaki 250. We purchased it used and was informed that the electric start did not work. I can not remember exactly why. For years my husband has pull cranked it (me nor my kids have ever been able to start it this way, it's pretty hard to do). After shoulder surgery this is no longer a viable option. We would like to fix the problem but these assemblies are upwards of $250 Which seems like a lot to invest in such an old beat up quad. Is it possible that the above reccomendation of replacing the switches on the handle bar may fix it? Just looking for some more experienced reccomendations. Thanks.

 

We have an older (maybe 2005) Kawasaki 250. We purchased it used and was informed that the electric start did not work. I can not remember exactly why. For years my husband has pull cranked it (me nor my kids have ever been able to start it this way, it's pretty hard to do). After shoulder surgery this is no longer a viable option. We would like to fix the problem but these assemblies are upwards of $250 Which seems like a lot to invest in such an old beat up quad. Is it possible that the above reccomendation of replacing the switches on the handle bar may fix it? Just looking for some more experienced reccomendations. Thanks.

 

As I, and others wrote above, do the tests. You need a good battery, and check if you get a click from the solenoid, then do the tests I outlined above. Aftermarket starters and solenoids are not that expensive if you do need them.

 

When i run a wire from the positive terminal on the battery to the starter solenoid it starts and runs fine the electric start just will not work I had to replace the chain that starts the bike it broke once I did that and got it all put back together the electric start was not working no more and all I did was disconnected the battery and disconnected where the chain goes turn the gear to start the bike put it all back together and I had nothing at the starter

 

First check the connections on the battery are good, sometimes disturbing them leads to them not contacting properly when re-tightened. Check if the solenoid is clicking, see my post 12 above.