Not starting

[Pain]

tapping the solenoid didn't do anything, nor did jumping the blue/white wire to a ground.

So.... This is probably bad, huh?

[bikerphil]

solenoid

On your solenoid, there should be 2 soldered-on wires. The one towards the rear of the bike (blu/wht) goes directly to the starter button. Try grounding this at the solder joint and the bike should crank. If it doesn't, check the other solder joint (red/wht) for voltage. Should be 10-12 V. Lets go from there. Do this with the key on.

[Pain]

okay. Grounding the blue/white wire did nothing. There is voltage to the red/white wire, but I am not sure how much. I am using a borrowed digital meter that reads in mV. It cycles up to 200 then starts over (it only reads up to 200).

I have the directions, but have to go to a work party now. I am being honored for...something. I will keep up with the thread, but won't be able to test anything for a few hours.

[bikerphil]

voltage

Ok, if you have 10-12 V at the front solder connection (red/wht) and grounding the blu/wht solder connection doesn't crank the starter, the solenoid is NG. If you want to confirm this, you could try swapping it with the one on your other XS. It might be possible to open the solenoid up and repair it, or check on Ebay for one. I've seen them on there from time to time.

[TopCatGr58]

Other Replacement options!

With electrical parts, I don't like to get used when I can get NEW for reasonable prices! See Below!

Partsnmore.com
STARTER RELAY
Fits XS1100E/F/G/H/SF/SG/SH (78-81)


$45.00US EA.

Part#24-2125
*********************************
I don't see why this one for a 650 wouldn't work!?
MikesXS.com 650 parts
Starter Relay
Starter Relay - Replaces original relay as used on 1972-84 XS/TX 650’s.


Part #24-6526 $15.00 USD EA.

Or like was said, you can take it apart(remove from bike/power first!) and you may be able to clean up the contacts which have probably been burned/pitted. You should be able to then test it before putting on the bike by just doing a simple jumper of positive to the Red/white wire and ground the blue/white one to see/hear if you can hear the switch being thrown inside!
T.C.

[Pain]

I tried swapping the solenoids begone with no change, but just in case I tried it again. Still nothing. According to the directions I have, the multi meter is supposed to switch from mV to V, if V is what it is reading. So I am not trusting it, and am going to get a simplier meter and recheck it.

[bikerphil]

solenoid

The only other thing I can think of to try is this. Unplug the solenoid connector (2 wires, red/wht & blu/wht). Take 1st jumper wire and connect it to red/wht at the solenoid plug and positive battery terminal. Take 2nd jumper wire and connect it to blu/wht at the solenoid plug and negative battery terminal (ground). If this sucker doesn't crank now, solenoid is NFG. Good luck! Anyone else wanna chime in on this?

[Pain]

I can't get the idea of a switch problem out of my head. Is there a way to test the wires on the kill switch? And the actual starter button? Actually, I couldn't even figure out how to get to the starter button, so I guess I could use some help there as well.

[planedick]

Kill switch

A few posts back you said the kill switch was off. It has to be on for the starter to work.

[bikerphil]

Kill switch

Hey Pain, the red/wht wire runs from the fuse block, thru the kill switch, and back to the solenoid. If you have voltage at the solenoid (red/wht), then the kill switch is working fine. Turn the switch to off, there should be no voltage at the solenoid (red/wht).