Evening, I have a 2003 Suzuki Vinson 500, I cannot get it to start with the start switch, it will start with the pull cord. I checked the battery, even tried adding jumper cables to my truck, no go. I used my digital ohm meter to check out all of the fuses, they are ok. When i press the start button you can hear the solenoid click under the seat. I pulled the starter off and connected it to a 12 volt charger and it spun freely. I traced out the positive cable for the starter and it looks ok coming back to the 30amp fuse. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

Right, you are telling us the starter won't turn "on the button" but the solenoid clicks. First thing to do is put a 12v high wattage test lamp between earth and the pos post on the starter, switch on, press start button, if solenoid clicks and lamp doesn't light, faulty solenoid, or bad earth if you earthed your lamp to the engine. To tell which, earth the lamp to the neg post of the battery and try again. If the lamp does light when earthed to the engine, you have a faulty starter. They can get intermittent when the brushes are worn, so testing the starter on it's own, or shorting the solenoid, doesn't always give the correct diagnosis.

 

Morning, Thank you very much, I will try that today, I really appreciate the guidance!

 

I just tried the light test, I connected the ground in multiple ground locations, and the light never came on. I did verify that the light was good. I will purchase a solenoid and see what happens. Thank you very much!

 

Just be sure it is the solenoid near the battery that is clicking, there is another relay, on most Suzukis, that switches the power to that solenoid when in neutral, not often, but this can go bad, or the wiring to/from it can go wrong. Genuine Suzuki solenoids are eye wateringly expensive, I have fitted a couple of cheapo Chinese ones to Eigers, and they seem to work OK. The solenoid's big terminals have an M and a B marked next to them, important that M goes to starter motor and B to battery.

 

Afternoon, the new solenoid arrived, and it took car of the issue. Thanks everyone for your help!!!