Starter/Solenoid causing battery ark

Energy One
T

Transam1

Member
went to fire up the 04 chopper a few days ago and it fired right up and then died after about 5 seconds and i lost all power to everything. After a little troubleshooting i turned the key off and lifted the seat off... my battery was smoking from the positive terminal and the battery itself was getting very very hot! so i proceeded to unhook the positive post (with the key off) and when i got the screw almost all the way out it started arking.
I let the battery cool off and unhooked the ground wires also. Still had the key off and went to hook the starter wire to the battery, with the ground still not hooked to the battery, and it arked immediately!
Yesterday just for shits i decided to hook the battery up just to see what it would do. i hooked everything up without any arking and everything seems to work fine. Cranked on the starter and it rolled over about 4 times and then boom, lost power and the battery started to get hot as hell and had the same ark issues.
I checked the wires to the starter, none of them have rubbed through and are grounding on the frame or anything so it leads me to think that my solenoid it bad? what u guys think? and can i replace just the noid?
 
HMAN

HMAN

I just like my Freedom
Best bet is to pull the starter and send it to WildSteedWorx. Curtis can rebuild it and get ya back on the road.
 
T

Transam1

Member
ok, ill try the plunger thing with a screwdriver, i think my battery is toast also from all of this, when i hook it up to my tender it wont charge and lights start blinking. lol
 
abnmechny

abnmechny

Active Member
I was wondering is BDM known for the main stud to be loose even after the nut is tight? I have been having issues with it sparking when cranking.
 
KaptinAmerika

KaptinAmerika

Guru
Remove your side covers, pipes, if they are in the way, drive belt
Disconnect your positive battery lead.
Carefully, with a flat head screw driver, pop the positive terminal cover up
With a 9/16 wrench remove the nut hold the connector to the terminal stud
Push the cable back out of the way
Remove the two starter mount bolts
Carefully slide your starter out watching for cables and wires that like to get caught up.
Register at WSW's site
Put the starter rebuild in your cart and checkout
Once paid you will receive an email with the shipping address.
If you have your own shipping service then you know what to do.
If not then:
Wrap your starter in a soft packing material.
Pad a USPS Medium Flat Rate box with bubble wrap and lay your wrapped starter in.
Pull the bubble wrap up and around your starter and pack the empty spaces with crumpled newspaper or other impact absorbing material.
Ship it to the address provided you by WSW.
Turn around is usually 1-3 days but I am inundated right now so it may take up to five business days.
 
T

Transam1

Member
ok, took the cover off of the starter (solenoid) today, and hook the battery up. pushed the plunger with my ratchet handle and it didnt do much, sounded like it tried to spin but the battery was too low. it also made a girgeling sound and puked out some oil out of the breather filter. Anyways, so i let the battery charge a while and went out and with the charger wires still hooked to the battery i tried again and as soon as i hit the plunger the light on the battery tender start flashing and going nuts and i also loose all power to the bike at this time. i have to unhook the starter positive lead in order to get the bike power back on and i have to unhook the positive charger cable to get it to start charging again. the other night i guess the battery got so hot it would not charge. Cant decide it the starter is hanging or the solenoid is messed up
 
KaptinAmerika

KaptinAmerika

Guru
It sounds like your battery got trashed
You need to pull the battery, take it down and have it load tested
Of course if it is bad then replace it, but fully charge the new one before you attempt to use it.
Then try this test again
 
T

Transam1

Member
ok and what am i testing for by pushing the plunger in? if i have a new battery and i push it in and it starts then is all fine? I also tried hitting the starter button on the handbar and it just clicks like a low battery but normally would roll it over untill this "shorting out" thing started to happen.
 
KaptinAmerika

KaptinAmerika

Guru
Pushing the plunger in tells you if you have a starter issue or a wire harness issue
If you push the plunger in and the starter turns over with no issues then you have a wire harness issue. This is provided all the major lines to the starter are clean and tight.
 
G

Ghostrider74

New Member
Hi Guys,

please Help. I have a Big Dog Bulldog Bike from 2007. I have install a new Batt.

When I switch to Ignition, flashes the right arrow (right turn signal) and not more, sometimes start the Bike, sometimes nothing, or the motorcycle goes out are the ride and it does nothing more. I have check the ground to the Frame, all connector, Battery connector, all, the kompression valve klicks by start, but I have no power to the green cable to the Starter ?

I have replace the Batt. and Charge the Batt. Sometimes I can Start the Bike 20 times, sometimes nothing ??? I have check the connector, Cables, all.

The module (Gold color right side) sometimes blue, sometime flash yellow I dont know.

Whats the problem ? Please help ?
 
T

Transam1

Member
ok Kaptain, i went out this morning, held the positive post to the battery with the grounds hooked up firmly, turned the key on and hit the plunger... i struggled to crank maybe one rotation and the cable from the starter that i was holding firmly on the positive ground turned bright red with heat and melted part of the battery terminal. I let it cool off a minute and held the positive back on the battery and reached up and hit the start button and it cranked away probably 6 times untill it started clicking. I then tried the plunger again and it did the same thing as last time, but this time it had a nice arking pop to it and did not spin at all and once again the terminal was red with heat. SIgh
 
francoblay1

francoblay1

The Spaniard
Ghostrider74 said:
Hi Guys,

please Help. I have a Big Dog Bulldog Bike from 2007. I have install a new Batt.

When I switch to Ignition, flashes the right arrow (right turn signal) and not more, sometimes start the Bike, sometimes nothing, or the motorcycle goes out are the ride and it does nothing more. I have check the ground to the Frame, all connector, Battery connector, all, the kompression valve klicks by start, but I have no power to the green cable to the Starter ?

I have replace the Batt. and Charge the Batt. Sometimes I can Start the Bike 20 times, sometimes nothing ??? I have check the connector, Cables, all.

The module (Gold color right side) sometimes blue, sometime flash yellow I dont know.

Whats the problem ? Please help ?
Click to expand...
Ghostrider74 said:
too little power to the battery?
Click to expand...
Hey Ghostrider74,

You will get more attention if you open your own thread up and explain there your problems... also you will not get mixed up/lost when looking for the replies directed to you :2thumbs:

Open your subject here: Help Wanted - BIG DOG Motorcycles Forum

:cheers:
 
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