Solenoid?

[philwecksr]

So, I have an 84 Honda Sabre (700cc, pristine mechanical condition, save the solenoid, new rubber, new brake pads, only 20K miles on it, asking $1000 if anybody is interested ) and I'm fairly certain the solenoid is kaput. When I put the battery in and try to start it the solenoid (i'm assuming this piece is the solenoid) just clicks loudly and really fast. Like I said I'm fairly certain that this means the solenoid is dead.

Now to my question:
A) Is there a way to repair a solenoid short of replacing it?

Like I said before I'm trying to sell the bike so I'd rather find a way to do this without having to dump the 100 bux bike bandit wants for a new one. I have a motorcycle graveyard near where I am and am planning a trip out there to search for a new one, so:

B)Is a solenoid something that is bike specific or would I be able to use a solenoid from another model.

C)If I can how close would it have to be to make/model/year?

If anybody knows ANYTHING at all please help me. My parents really really want this thing out of their garage... LOL

[trinc]

the solenoid is a relay. relays are rated by the amount of current they can handle. the amount of current is going to be based on the windings in the starter ( since all bike these days are 12v ).

the basics would state that a larger CC motor will take a larger starter.
( i said basics - because the amount of winding & size of the magnets are going to play a role )

if you can't find the exact solenoid look for one from a 750cc or larger.


tim

that being said, i think i still have a katana solenoid with a 30A fuse ( so it's rated at a minimum of 30A ) you can have it for the shipping cost.

[The CyberPoet]

On a bike as old as yours, you can sometimes get solenoid (relay), open it up, clean the contacts well with a little emory cloth and some WD-40, and reassemble it with sucess... It's a finicky bit of work, but usually it's feasible. Usually the problem is one of three basic issues:
(A) The inside is so filled with carbon dust that it doesn't want to make a good contact (esp. build-up at the contact points) but is moving into the right position;
(B) The contacts don't want to meet correctly; cleaning it out and lubing the assembly with a light-oil (WD-40 again) may restore the movement.
(C) if it uses magnetically bending contact arms (as verses to slam-into-place solenoid path), the arms' metal may have gotten bent permanently into a bad position due to simple metal fatigue. Rebending them and testing (by feeding power through the activation contacts with the cover off to visually watch what's happening) can get it back up to snuff.

On the other hand, if you are getting the clicking, it sounds like the starter (or wiring from the relay to the starter) may be where it's defective, rather than the solenoid itself. The solenoid can be jumped (by-passed) with a thick wire (as thick as the cable to the starter) to determine if the solenoid/relay is definitely the problem.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[md86]

Have you shorted the selenoid to see what happens ? Just lay a screwdriver across the contacts . THAT will answer whether your starter is any good or not .