I purchased a 2004 Honda Foreman about a month ago and have about 12hrs on it. Almost all of this time was plowing snow (48" blade operated w/ 3000lb warn winch). My electric starter has failed, I expect the switch is bad. Is there a connection between winch/plow operation and this failure? Is this just bad luck?

 

They should be on separate circuits. Thats very unusual for a starter to crap out in less than 5 years. Did they replace it under warentee?

 

does the neutral light come on? it wont start if it dont. just a thought
can your tap on it and get it to turn over while pushing the button or does it just buzz at the battery?

seth

 

The neutral light comes on and the starter switch clicks when the button is pushed. I have the service manual and troubleshot it to some extent. I disconnected the cables from the terminals on the switch. The service manual suggests to apply the battery power directly to the motor. I did this and nothing happened. The odd thing is that 12V are measured across the switch terminals so voltage is being supplied to the motor, even when the starter button is not pressed. When I reconnected the cables, the motor jumped.

The service manual also suggest that ohmic continuity across the termianls should be measured when the battery is connected, and no continuity when the battery is disconnected. I measure 12V across the terminals and this voltage blasts the ohm meter. Somehow this test didn't behave as I would have expected it too.

I haven't tapped on it. I use to rock auto's when starters would die and that would get it to work a few extra times.

I had occaisional problems with this shortly after installing the winch (first weekend of ownership).
It will be fixed under warranty, but the fact that it failed is disappointing. Maybe it will be one of those rare failures during "burn-in"

I won't do much more to troubleshoot it since the dealer requires their diagnostics in order to repair under warranty.

 

if i dont keep the engine movin while im plowing, my lights and starter crap out, butthats just because the battery dies, but after a few mins, everything is normal again.

 

Put a socket on the crankshaft, to make sure it didn't seize up. It sounds like the engine might be solid.

 

the engine is fine. I have been pull starting it with ease for the past week

 

Are you testing across the "big terminals" ? If you are, you should measure battery voltage...this is the voltage drop and it means cellunoid is consuming all the voltage, that is it can't get through. When you depress the starter button, that figure should drop to near 0 VDC, as at that point, the cellunoid "big cable" circuit closes and the starter consumes the voltage, not the cellunoid. If you are testing continuity across the cellunoid big cables, you should leave the two pin coupler from the starter button circuit hooked up, but disconnect the battery, or it will "blast your ohm reading". With the starter button depressed, you should have continuity across the terminals, otherwise it should be an open circuit. These are essentially two different methods for testing the same thing. Anyway, those parts (the button and cellunoid or relay circuit) are pretty reliable, though from all the plowing it's possible moisture somehow got somewhere it's not supposed to. What I've seen in similar situations as yours are batteries becoming discharged from all the winch use. Make sure your battery is good before you do too much other probing. Usually the cellunoid clicking means it's good, and they'll do that when there's enough battery to close the switch circuit, but not enough to run the starter, which takes more amps to run than anything else on your machine.

 

check the main, flat, odd-shaped fuse.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

I checked the main fuse and it is fine. With the battery connected and 12V measured across the big terminals, the voltage remains at 12V when the starter switch is closed. Also, with the battery disconnected but the 2-wire plug still connected, I measure a closed circuit (small ohmic resistance) regardless of the starter switch position. I will put a charge on the battery for good measure, however this starting problem was intermittent from within a few days of ownership. It appears that the solenoid switch is not functioning properly. Do you agree?