1994 SP not turning over

[SPrider13]

Hey guys. Last year, I purchased a 94 sp off of Craigslist for $250. I was going to pay $600, but when I pulled up to the guys house “he couldn’t get it to start”. Offered him 250 because he seemed ok. Took it home, tore it apart and jumped the soloniod and nothing so swapped the starter out and it ran like new. Fast forward to this year, started up great in July took it out for a few afternoons and all was good. But just last week before leaving for vacation I washed it off and started it up to make sure all was good. Ran fine on the hose for a minunite. Shut it down and tried to start it again and heard the same clicking like last year. Pulled the electronics box out, jumped the relay and it cranked over fine. So bad starter relay right? Bought one off of amazon, came in two days swapped it in and now nothing. No click, nothing. However, when I tapped the soloniod with my screwdriver to try and shake it loose the ski turned over a few times. Battery is fine as it just was running but I put it on the charger Incase. Will still crank if I jump it but without jumping it there is nothing. No clicking no nothing. Tested the starter switch and kill switch w a continuity tester and all was at 0ohms. Very confused and am trying to avoid a shop. Any help would be appreciated. I’m no mechanic but I know how to work a wrench.

 

[etemplet]

Check your ground connections especially near the solenoid. Check your ground on the engine also. You are having intermittent trouble and it may not be the components. Good Luck

 

[SPrider13]

Check your ground connections especially near the solenoid. Check your ground on the engine also. You are having intermittent trouble and it may not be the components. Good Luck

What exactly do u mean by checking the ground. But will do.

 

[etemplet]

Sometimes the ground connections (black wires) get loose or corroded. If you don't have a good ground the circuit cannot be completed. I'd look right where you are tapping and moving things around and all of a sudden it starts working.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

Yep, check for corroded terminals on the wiring associated with the solenoid, it's not being energized to pull in the contacts. Also, the replacement solenoid may be defective, that happens sometimes.

Usually I rebuild these old ones by prying the metal crimp tabs back and removing the small nuts holding the coil connection studs (if it has them), CAREFULLY pull out the coil being careful not to break the fine copper wires of the coil and remove the large terminal studs and clean them using a wire brush and/or sandpaper. bla, bla, bla... CAREFULLY reassemble.

I have a drawer full of used repaired ones in case someone gets stuck on the boat ramp with their entire family and look like they could use a free rebuilt solenoid to get them going.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

If you want to use a voltmeter set for more than 12V DC black lead on battery negative terminal (ground). meter red test lead on the small solenoid terminal (the terminal with yellow wire with red stripe) (see seadoo color code) you should measure 12V while hitting start button.. If yes, move meter red test lead to small terminal with black wire (ground) and repeat, should NOT measure 12V. If YES 12V DC both small terminals then ground is open path. If NO, solenoid coil is open path (no current path through solenoid coil).

If that was confusing sorry, I'm getting in one last post tonight.

 

[SPrider13]

Yep, check for corroded terminals on the wiring associated with the solenoid, it's not being energized to pull in the contacts. Also, the replacement solenoid may be defective, that happens sometimes.

Usually I rebuild these old ones by prying the metal crimp tabs back and removing the small nuts holding the coil connection studs (if it has them), CAREFULLY pull out the coil being careful not to break the fine copper wires of the coil and remove the large terminal studs and clean them using a wire brush and/or sandpaper. bla, bla, bla... CAREFULLY reassemble.

I have a drawer full of used repaired ones in case someone gets stuck on the boat ramp with their entire family and look like they could use a free rebuilt solenoid to get them going.

The box is in almost new condition. Everything in it is in mint condition. I tested the grounds and everything checked out. Maybe got a bad solenoid. Going to crack it open like you said and see if that works. If not, I’m not really sure where to go from here. Thanks for the help again.

 

[SPrider13]

By box I mean the electrical box. *

 

[mikidymac]

You wouldn’t be the first person here to get a junk new aftermarket solenoid. Some things on these need to be OEM. Starters and solenoids top the list.

 

[SPrider13]

You wouldn’t be the first person here to get a junk new aftermarket solenoid. Some things on these need to be OEM. Starters and solenoids top the list.

Where can you get an OEM solenoid. When I replaced the starter, I couldn’t find an OEM one so I went aftermarket and that worked well.

 

[SPrider13]

Just swapped out the solenoid and it started up no problem. Guess I really did have a bad one. Thanks for the help

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

FWIW, This would be the same solenoid you can find at any autoparts store such as NAPA, riding lawn mowers, mercruiser I/O, and a long list of gasoline engine starters use the same solenoid, it's very common.

But whomever assembled the replacement solenoid must've fractured one of the thin coil wires and it just happened to work once or twice. Or perhaps the wire wasn't properly soldered to the terminal stud.

I think you can repair your original starter solenoid if you want to try, that's what I'd do and keep the good one as a spare so you'll never have this problem again (Murphy's Law).