I have a picture in my profile, I am trying to add it to the page and I hope this works. Its gold on the top and black on the bottom. Thanks

 

It certainly sounds like a starter solenoid to me...

To repeat what Bentz1251 said this device allows a little switch and small wires to use a magnetic field to draw down a big plate that shorts the two fat red wires together. This connects your quad battery directly up to the starter motor.

But you said you connected those two big fat red wires together at the starter solenoid connector with some pliers and nothing happened. If this is true then it cannot be the starter solenoid's fault because you've unplugged the solenoid and performed it's only task manually - i.e. shorted the two fat wires together. That's all the solenoid does. And you did it. And it didn't work. The solenoid (based on your data) is off the hook...

So now we are down to "did you do that correctly", or is there some wire or battery capacity issues.

You said you connected a charger directly to the starter motor, and it turned. Your starter is good then (again repeating and agreeing what Bentz2151 said).

So when you hook an external power source up directly (the charger) the starter turns. But when you connect up the internal power source directly (the quad battery - via your pliers) it doesn't turn. That leaves only three possibilities:

1) Your battery is dead or won't store any charge.
2) You've got bad connections in the heavy current path from the battery to the starter (through your pliers too), and/or the return path back to the negative battery terminal.
3) Your reported data is bad and misdirecting us down a blind alley. I don't mean to be so blunt, but I have to. Measurement error is a common problem even amongst seasoned technicians. A good technician will always question her/his results and repeat and verify over and over. Please verify to you complete and utter satisfaction that shorting those two fat wires together does *not* cause the starter to turn running off your battery. Then, jump the quad battery to your car battery and do the same thing (again take extra care to get the polarity right, and make sure your quad is in neutral and the brakes are set first.)

Do you have a volt meter? Doing some voltage measurements are long past due .

 

You could have fooled me... (about the "IDK much about electronics" part)

I agree with *everything* you posted on this issue.

 

I do have a good volt meter! If you tell me what to put positive lead on and the negative lead on I can tell if the number goes up or down, yes! Can it be the start button? I have a brand new battery and when the start button worked the starter turned and with the battery charger it turned? Please don't laugh at this next question --- cause Im serious I don't know the answer! I have a few (at least 3) wires that hook in = top is green with black line wire - bottom yellow with red line wire the clip to hook it together the other wires arent the same colors the black and green one is on the bottom and a different white wire is on there. the yellow with red is hooked into another connector type thing. I guess what I am asking is are they supposed to be going to the same colors? My brake all go to the same colors and that works! My brake light doesn't dim when I push the start button should I take the handle thing off and look at it? When the start button quit working I touched the silver regulator box could that be what happened. There is a square one by a long rectangle one (the long rectangle one is hooked to that green and black wire I was talking about) and ends with the picture below thing. I did put the pliers in the holes the best I could and I do appreciate your help. I confuse myself if Im not looking at it when I am trying to explain it! I will try to get pics of those silver box and rectangle voltage regulators on here in a few mins! I think its somewhere between the start button and the starter but don't know how to check it or how to fix it. ***************** forgot to add that I don't get spark when I try to kickstart it but did with the button when it worked, had great compression too? Thanks I may not know how to word things but I have common sense enough to know its a wiring problem and not to mess with the motor - yet! LOL! I am really trying so please don't stop trying to figure out what the heck im talkin about! PLEASE!!!

 

How far do the needle nose pliers need to go down the holes? I will make sure again but they didn't fit real good (almost used tweezers but they didn't have a plastic handle). Do I still need to push the start button while I do that? What else would fit better or work instead of pliers? Thanks for all of the help I am learning a thing or two about a thing or two!

 

OK I did try the pliers in the two red wires thing again - but not with pliers, I used a wire with metal flat ends and it tried to start. I will by a starter relay and get back with you - due to the fact it didn't turn over - something's still not right with it or it would have cranked! Sorry I thought the pliers were touching the metal but they were just to big! Thanks sooo much!

 

Wait a second we aren't ready to condemn the solenoid yet. Remember how this works...

The solenoid has a coil of wire in it wrapped around a steel core. When you apply 12 volts across that coil about 3 amps of current flows. This generates a magnetic field in the coil which sucks down a spring loaded steel plate which then shorts the two big fat wires together just like you did with the flat metal thingy before. This allows the 35 plus amps to flow from the battery to the starter motor. See what this part is doing? It is allowing a series of small little switches (ignition, brake, and start button) to indirectly switch on and off 35 amps (or so) of starter current through the solenoid. Also note that when this coil sucks down the steel plate it makes a "click" sound.

So when you turn on the ignition, apply the brakes (verify the brake light is lit up), and then push the starter button, do you hear that "click" coming from the solenoid?

If not, then do the following with your meter set to measure DC voltage on the 20 volt DC scale:

1) Plug the solenoid back onto the wiring harness.
2) Turn on the ignition and apply the brakes (making sure the brake light is lit up). Keep the ignition on with the brake light lit up for all of the following tests...
3) Measure the voltage on each of the two solenoid coil activating wires (the other two wires at the solenoid other than the fat heavy wires) to the negative battery terminal. If you cannot probe the connector pins directly, use a sewing pin to gently poke through the insulation of the harness wires until you make electrical contact with the copper wire core. Then measure from the sewing pin with your meter. What voltage do you measure on each wire?
4) Next repeat the test #3 above while keeping the start button pushed the whole time. What voltage do you measure on each wire?

What we are doing here is measuring the input side of the solenoid. When the start button is pushed (and brake light is on, etc.) we should have 12 volts DC on one side, and zero volts on the other - in other words 12 volts *across* the solenoid actuating coil. If we do (and the solenoid is not going *click*) then the solenoid is bad. If we don't then we go back into the wiring. And the voltages you measure should steer us toward whether it is the ground side that isn't being hooked up, and the positive side that isn't being hooked.

Divide and conquer. That's how these things get solved .

 

Ok.... I measured the voltage and I have voltage whether I push the start button or not. It was 11.30 without pushing start and 12 with the start button pushed. I put the black lead on the negative terminal and the red on the safety pin I pushed into the copper wire. I did the green and yellow with and without the start button; and the blue and white with and without. They both were about the same. No zero on any reading. Does that mean yes I need a new one? You worded it so simple even I could figure it out! Even though Starter Relay is bad, I am still happy that I was able to figure it out thanks to both of your help!

 

Nope, we're not there yet. Since you never got 12 volts applied across the two solenoid activating wires, the solenoid was never activated, and it cannot be expected to do anything... When I say the solenoid never got 12 volts applied across the activating wires, that means we never saw the situation where one wire was at 12 volts and the other wire was a zero volts.

I suspect that one side of your solenoid activating wire pair is tied to 12 volts through the fuse, ignition switch, and brake switch. You measured 12 volts at the solenoid so this part works.

I also suspect that the 'other' solenoid activating wire is *supposed* to get grounded when the start button is pushed. But this never happens from the data you presented. Also remember that both solenoid activation wires are connected together by a coil of wire wound around a steel core. It's actually quite a lot of wire, and all wire has some resistance. So it the side of the activation coil that is supposed to get grounded doesn't get grounded, the voltage on this pin drifts up to 12 volts through the coil of wire to the other pin.

But if this wire gets grounded some current will flow - limited by the resistance of all that wire in the the activation coil. That would be about 4 ohms - making about a 3 amp draw.

So try this:

1) Unplug the starter solenoid, and turn off the ignition switch.
2) Set your meter to measure ohms on the 20 ohm scale.
3) Measure the resistance of each of the two solenoid activation wires in your harness to ground:
a) with the starter button pushed
b) with the starter button not pushed

So that is four readings: Two wire readings with the start button pushed, and two wire readings with the start button not pushed.

 

I put the black lead on the negative terminal (assuming that is ground?), ohms is straight up and down on my fluke Im almost sure, key off I measured the green and yellow wire core with and without start button pushed, and blue an white wire core with and without start button pushed.
They all had the same 001.4 it didnt change when the start button was held. Is it possible the wires that go to the coil are on the wrong side? Thanks for walking me through this!