One click from solenoid

Trying to start my '85 XJ 700 Maxim.

Turn key to on. Only green neutral light is on at this point.

Side stand up, clutch in, switch on, push start button and all I get is oil light on and one click from the solenoid.

I have tried putting Blaster in the plug holes and rocking it in 5th gear and sometimes it churns and gurgles a little bit on the first couple of tries, but then goes back to the oil light/one click thing.

I actually got it to start and took it for a spin around the parking lot of my apt. complex for a little bit. But then it died and does the click thing now. Once and awhile it gurgles and churns (sorry for my technical jargon here, but that is what it sounds like...) a little bit and then back to the oil light on/one click thing.

Any ideas? I thought the oil light is supposed to come on as soon as you turn the ignition key? Or does it only come on briefly when you hit the ignition switch?

Bad solenoid? Low battery? Anything else it could possibly be?

Thanks!

 

P.S. I have tried putting in a fully charged battery that starts my friend's Yamaha FZ1 just fine, and I still get the same result. Oil light on and one click from the solenoid.

 

In my bike when that happens its one of three things.
1: Brushes in the starter are donecakes, New brushes or better, new starter
2: The Ignition fuse. The tabs that hold the fuse in sometimes shake the fuse loose and pushes hose tabs back a little bit. I just used needle nose pliers and pushed the tabs back where they hold the fuse tight
3: New solenoid? Try taking some heavy gauge wire and jump the starter. One end of wire to the + on the batter and the other end on the Black part of the solenoid. If it works, bad solenoid. 12 bucks at a hardware store, no biggy.
-Chris

 

P.P.S. I also tried shorting the solenoid with a screwdriver just to have some more information. I connected the leads on the solenoid with a screwdriver and it sparked. When I pushed the starter button I heard a click and felt a good jump through the insulated screwdriver.

Does that help narrow anything down? (besides me possibly being an idiot?)

 

as far as the oil light goes, not sure. but thats prob not part of the problem anyway so lets just forget about that. my bike did that same thing. all i had to do was tear down the starter and spray some brake clean and cleaned it all up in there and it fired right up and hasnt given my anymore issues, other than everything else :cry: can you check for volts at the starter? all you need is a meter for that. the starter is super easy to remove so id just clean it first and try again

 

Thanks, guys, I will try all these things during my next bike "workday." These are all things I haven't tried yet. Any other ideas out there? Keep 'em comin'!

 

you should just be able to run a battery jumper cable from the battery terminal on solenoid to the nut on the starter where the cable connects too.

or use a car and use both jumper cable leads. one from car negative to engine ground. other from car positive to cable on the starter. car don't need to be running. battery alone has 5 times the amps motorcycle battery does. starter will only pull down the amps it needs to crank.

see if the starter spins then.

or try jumping the bike from the car. see if it starts with a car hooked to bike.

you also might have poor battery connections. ((corroded)).

since you got the bike to actually start and have it die after a few minutes. that would indicate the bike running on what little juice is left from the battery. meaning the charging system isn't working.

 

when you crossed the solenoid terminals the starter should have spun
even if the key was off, make sure it's in neutral
better check out that starter first

 

I just had this issue on my 650. I pulled the starter, cleaned it out, polished the commutator with green scotchbrite, swabbed the brushes with CRC electrical cleaner and repacked the grease. It spun up like a champ after that.

 

Guys, this worked brilliantly. I pulled the starter out, took every piece apart and cleaned it with CRC and a toothbrush until it was shiny silver, copper, red or whatever it was supposed to be. Re-greased it. Put it all back in and it roared to life effortlessly.

Thanks for helping me solve a two month mystery!