My husband was recently given a 1986 Kawasaki 300 Bayou 2X4. It only needed a key and a battery. It ran when our friend put it up last fall, but now, we can't seem to get her to even want to kick at all unless we hot wire the starter. My best guess is there is a short or break in the flow from the battery to the solenoid in the back. When you turn it on and hit the start button it clicks, but that's it. We've jumped the starter to make sure that's not the problem, the neutral light and headlights work...but unfortunately when it comes to wiring, I'm pretty stumped. When we tried to cross the solenoid last night, nothing happened. Is there a common place where shorts occur on these things? Or maybe a fuse I'm not seeing?

 

If you have shorted across the solenoid, you have connected the battery directly to the starter. If the starter is OK there is only the battery or the main wires from it to the starter that could be at fault. Starters get intermittent when the brushes wear down, but check both the battery leads and earth leads for bad connections, and put jump leads to the battery to ensure it isn't almost flat.

 

If you narrow it down to a starter,plenty on ebay for 50 bucks. Or if you're so inclined to tear one apart and rebuild one,kits are 15 bucks. Never had much luck with one lasting on rebuilds.http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Starter-Kawasaki-KLF300-Bayou-300-A1-290cc-1986-86-/271603000524?hash=item3f3ccce4cc&vxp=mtr Starter Kit Fits Kawasaki ATV KLF300 Bayou 300 21163 1141 | eBay

 

Thank you both so much. After much racking our brains and being certain it was something REALLY simple and or dumb, we found that the positive wire for the solenoid had gotten hooked to the negative side of the battery. A friend of ours found it in 5 minutes. Thank you again for all your help

 

You will be very lucky if you haven't blown the regulator, the fuse should have blown instantly anyway. Check that the regulator is working by putting a voltmeter across the battery with the engine running. The voltage should rise with revs until it reaches between 13 and 14.5V, over 15v and you need a new regulator. less than 13v and you need a new regulator.

 

Thank you Merryman! I will have my hubby check that when we get home. It has been starting and running great so far, except the leak from the bowl of the carb. We were going to rebuild that anyhow. If anyone has any tricks to making that any easier...I'd love to hear them. It has a CVK Carb on it instead of the factory KLF.