Honda foreman electric start won't work

[jimmyj]

My 1997 Foreman 400 suddenly won't start electrically. The battery is fine, the coil and regulator are fine and it' pull starts no problem. There is a small round "thing" behind the batter that makes a click sound when I push the electric start lever. And some mice chewed some of the wires to the fuse box but I wrapped them in tape.

Any advice? I already spent over $200 on the new regulator and coil thinking it was an easy fix but no go.

 

[SpudHauler]

If you cross over the solenoid switch that you heard clicking, in other words, cross from the big 12 v leads on each side of it, you should hear the starter engaging and turning over the engine. I've use the bare ends of pliers to cross over because of so many other things in the way. This test will eliminate a bad solenoid.

If the starter doesn't turn. Remove and have a dealer rebuild or replace.

 

[jimmyj]

Thanks Spud. I can't beleive I never thought of that! Much appreciated!

 

[jimmyj]

Starter does not turn. Even ran a jumper wire straight from the pos side of the battery to it and nada.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[Scooby074]

starter got a good ground? All the way back to the neg batt term?

Might try removing it and doing a bench test.

Got to watch the weatherpack connectors in the batt box. Corrosion gets in the back end, and causes problems. Also check all the fuse holders for corrosion on the ends where the fuse blades plug in.


Of course your batt is fully charged? You can try a car battery, just to see, use jumper cables. hook ground direct to the starter and touch + to the starter term

 

[Avondale]

Hi

The clicking noise is normal, it is a relay that sends batt power to the starter motor (big wires) by using a small coil operated from your push start button (small wires). The coil energizes, draws the heavy contacts closed allowing a complete circuit from Batt positive terminal, through the relay to starter motor and then back to batt neg terminal via the ground return path of your engine/frame.

My problem was with my Arctic Cat 400 starter motor itself. The brushes within were all but gone.

As a caution, Arctic Cat (OEM) starters are horribly expensive, even the brushes them selves are quite rich. I bought a No Name brand starter for a fraction of the cost, slightly more expensive than just the brush gear from Arctic Cat. I did not find a local dealer that had the correct brushes but probably could have bought some bigger ones and "seat" them in.

Hope this helps.

 

[jimmyj]

I did a test and starter is bad. A new OEM starter is over $600. I took it to a rebuild shop and he fixed it for $84.00. It's not likely to last forever (he showed me and the armature is pooched and the brushes are sketchy but he still jimmied it for me with a used armature). We ordered a new aftermarket one and it's going to be out of stock till end of December but it's only $129.00.

The good part of the story is that I learned about an amazing local business with great customer service for starters and alternators.

 

[SpudHauler]

What usually fries the starters is water getting in. On the new one, and the old one for that matter, seal up the joints with silicone sealant. You don't need to take anything apart, just seal up any joint were water might get in before you put it back on the machine.