80 XS11SG solenoid/starter

[mfarrington]

last week my starter began acting up, would activate while riding. This was very unnerving to me when I first noticed ~ all of a sudden I hear a loud whirring from the lower engine, and my scoot-scoot wouldn't shut off! Sucked the power out of the battery, too. Anyways, I took out the starter and replaced with a parts bike starter of unknown condition. That starter must have been shot, because once connected, the bike wouldn't turn at all, but the starter got blazing hot. Put the original defective back in, cause it at least turned.
But now, I got nothing. Power is good to all lights, battery is strong (keeping it trickled) but no love whatsoever! Could it be the solenoid?

I need some advice,

[cywelchjr]

Most likely, the starter doesn't have anything to do with being on or off, that is controlled by the solenoid and starter button. If the other starter just sat there and got hot, it probably burned out the solenoid. So at this point you probably need to either rebuild or replace the solenoid to fix the problem, as there is probably nothing wrong with your original starter.

[mfarrington]

what's the process for rebuilding? How common is the solenoid to purchase? (I'm in North Georgia and the leaves are turning . . . I need my rod!)

[skids]

It would seem to me that you have intermitant contact with the starter button unit. I would disassemble and clean out the assembly.

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

what's the process for rebuilding? How common is the solenoid to purchase? (I'm in North Georgia and the leaves are turning . . . I need my rod!)

I am gusssing it is on your 80 XS1100? Here is a link to a new one. Looks like about $125.00 plus S/H

http://www.boats.net/parts/search/Ya...202/parts.html

[crazy steve]

Here's the rebuild procedure for the 'square' style solenoid; if you have the round style, you may have to drill out some rivets and figure a way to replace them, but the two types work exactly the same....

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...lenoid+rebuild

[fredintoon]

last week my starter began acting up, would activate while riding. This was very unnerving to me when I first noticed ~ all of a sudden I hear a loud whirring from the lower engine, and my scoot-scoot wouldn't shut off! Sucked the power out of the battery, too. Anyways, I took out the starter and replaced with a parts bike starter of unknown condition. That starter must have been shot, because once connected, the bike wouldn't turn at all, but the starter got blazing hot. Put the original defective back in, cause it at least turned.
But now, I got nothing. Power is good to all lights, battery is strong (keeping it trickled) but no love whatsoever! Could it be the solenoid?

I need some advice,

Hi Mike,
first, test your starter. Clamp it in a vise and touch jumper cables to it's terminals to see if it runs.
Or you can take the starter to an automotive parts store where they have a test set-up to see how it runs and also see how much current it draws.
And yeah, I bet your starter solenoid is hooped.

[CatatonicBug]

Here's the rebuild procedure for the 'square' style solenoid; if you have the round style, you may have to drill out some rivets and figure a way to replace them, but the two types work exactly the same....

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...lenoid+rebuild

No drilling required on my round one. It actually had the edges of the housing rounded over as "tabs" to hold the coil inside it. I just ground those bent-over edges off, and the coil slid right out. The problem is that the contact surfaces are not "flippable" on the round one. Mine had pitted the copper contact surfaces, so I melted solder into the pitted areas and ground it smooth on all 4 surfaces. When I re-assembled it, I just hammered new "tabs" over to hold the coil in the body and screwed the cap back on. The main thing to remember is to melt and remove the solder on the external connections before trying to disassemble the housing.

[mfarrington]

Thanks Radical123

It was definately the solenoid. Radical123 sold me a sweet round replacement (clean, and new looking!) for $18 total ticket.

Now I can put my side-cover back on . . . I got real fast at jumping the 'noid!

Peace,