The Starter stopped working in the summer while I was using the Winch.
Since then I have replaced the Starter Relay/Solenoid, Took the Battery to a battery shop to have it checked and they told me it is fine. What the hell is going on?
when i turn on the key, neutral light is on as it should be, press the starter and all i hear is click. at the same time the oil light comes on when i press the starter button. the lights work, the winch works. I have no idea, i am stumped. Please help.

 

Have you tried taking out the starter and connecting it straight to power? use a set of jumper cables off the battery or something.

Check the continuity of the cable going to the starter?

 

yes i did take it out and it turned over. i have not checked the cable...what should i check for?

 

Well... to begin, make sure when you press the start button that you have voltage going from the solenoid to the starter.

 

what should i be reading and from what lines?
what about grounds? how many are there and which ones should i check?
thanks
Darryl

 

It couldn't really be the ground for the starter because the starter's housing is the ground, so if it's bolted on there's not much to worry about there. The only other ground in this circuit is the one that goes between the battery and the top/back of the engine sort of on the left side. It's hard to find unless you follow the wire down from the battery.

There's not much to check for voltage readings with this, just with the starter button held down you should be getting close to the same voltage you're reading straight across the battery terminals. If it's a signifigant drop, like you're only seeing 10 volts at the starter end but 12.5 at the battery, you could have a bad cable. I haven't seen one of these go bad on a quad before, but I've came across them bad on cars where they look fine, but the wire is broke inside the insulation and carrys a weak current only.

Another question, since this happened while you were using your winch, how is your winch connected? Does it go straight to the battery or is it wired some other way?

 

the winch goes straight to the battery as far as i can tell, buddy that had this quad beforem me was no electrician, he has wires everywhere for the heated handlebars etc. i am trying to sort his mess out. but the starter is pretty straight forward...or should be. i am just curious still about the battery.....they tell me it has lots of cranking amps in it...but can they be sure wiith thses little batteries?
i was told that there is no way of testing these small batteries.

 

With the right testing equipment any battery can be tested. Now, does a regular auto parts store have testing equipment that works in this range? Not all of them, but some do.

A bulletproof test of your battery is to just stick it in another quad that's known to be in good operating condition and see your battery starts it. You could also try jump starting your quad from another vehicle. A small engine machine like a tractor or another quad would be best, but a car will work to jump start it if you don't have any other options. Just watch that you get the jumper cables secure on the quad's battery, those big clamps don't like to stay on the small terminals sometimes and having a car battery short out through jumper cables would probably be nothing short of a spectacular fireworks show.

 

What i'm talking about is where the battery cable's hook to the battery , on Honda and Suzuki there's a small metalic grey box that's bolted to one of the battery terminal's ; on the honda and Suzuki it's hooked to the positive terminal !

If the relay box isn't mounted on one of the battery terminal's then trace the wire's from the battery , you should start from there !

Even though the wentch is working you have it wired straight to the battery terminal's , so it would work even if the starter doesn't ; because of negative ground between battery cable to the starter relay and cutoff relay whitch are supposed to be behind the battery on the 93' model's !

But if your buddy wired the quad for the wench and heated grip's this could be your problem , but in any case you'll have to trace down wiring system starting from the battery ; and the job would go smoother with a good shop manual the one i hve doesn't go past a 93' model and i don't know how much has changed since !

Sorry if this doesn't help , and i wish i could do more , but like i stated get a good O.E.M. or Haynes , Chilton or Clymer Manual for your year and model is your best bet ! .............

 

I'm not really sure what you meant there, but i don't see how a short could cause this, or even how corrosion could cause a short. The only thing corrosion might do is cause an open circuit, and being that the solenoid is clicking, the only potentially open circuit is between the solenoid and starter. This starting system is a very simple one. One loop between the battery, solenoid, starter button, and key switch, and another loop from the battery through the switched side of the solenoid to the starter.