Question. I recently purchased a 1984 honda VT700C shadow, and its my first bike.
When i first started riding it, it started fine, in neutral, without the clutch in, no electrical lag, or anything.
Now when I try to start it I hear a small clicking noise and nothing happens. I took the battery to autozone today after having charged it to full, and the battery tested out fine, even under a load. I just took out the solenoid, cleaned it and put it back in, same problem. It cant be the starter, because when I bypass the solenoid, the bike starts up fine.
AnswerShaun,
If you here the solinoid it is probably working as far as kicking out the starter gear however there is a switch it also trips which makes that large current connection between your battery and starter motor. You may have a faulty switch, part of the soliniod. Other then that, if your battery is indeed ok upon load test, you may have a bad connection at your terminals (unlikely, as I assume you cleaned terminals well upon reinstalling bat.) or a bad ground connection somewhere. Besides the main ground you may have 2 or 3 others, check wiring diagram. This is also unlikely but not impossible since your bypass worked.
Hope this helps,
Mike
