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- hi fellas.

- have developed a new problem with the 96 Heritage Softail.

- push the starter button , and i hear the CLICK at the starter motor but no engagement and no turning over. Push push push , and if I am lucky , it engages and starts.

- the last time this happened , it was resolved with a new battery.

- so , duly went out to buy a new battery (Yuasa YTX 20). Put in the batt and she starts fine (at first).

- today , it does that CLICK trick again.

- am guessing that its the starter solenoid ?

- any way to fix this easily without having to take out the starter motor ? Big job that.

- thanks in advance.

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You have The Dreaded Click. See the sticky, above.

 

Run a fused wire (20 amp) from your positive post on your battery to pin 30 on your starter relay.

On your bike you don't have to add the extra relay.

 

Yes, sounds like a regulator/stator issue to me. Perform the Dr Hess test.

 

Here is the test Iron refers to.


Dr.Hess' How To Diagnose Your Charging System



Scale on DC Volts, around 20V max voltage scale. Nominal readings are given in brackets. Check voltage across battery terminals (12.8). Turn bike on. Check voltage (less than previous, ~12.0+,depending on headlight, accessories). Start bike and let idle. Check voltage(could be 12.0 to 15). Rev to about 2500. Check voltage (should be more than observed with bike on but motor not running, and more than with bike off.Ideally between 13 and 15.) Turn high beam on. Should be about the same, give or take a little. If the voltage is over 15 or 15.5-ish with a headlight on,I'd consider replacing the regulator and/or checking all grounds (battery to frame, regulator to frame in particular). If the battery voltage with the headlight on, bike not running is less than around 11.5-ish, I’d replace the battery. If it’s 10, it’s past its prime.

If you pass the above tests, your system is most likely fine, including the regulator and stator. If you don't pass, then:

Bike off. Meter set on Ohms, medium-ish scale, like 20K or 200K Ohms max scale,depending on your meter. Pull stator plug. Ground the meter black lead to a good chassis ground, like a bolt or even the battery negative. With the red lead, touch a different part of the bike, like the engine case at an unpainted part or another bolt. Meter should read low ohms, like 0. If it doesn’t, you didn't ground the black lead. With the red lead, touch each contact on the motor side (stator) of the plug (the part stuck in the case). Depending on if your case has a male or female plug, if you can't see the metal part/pin of the plug, you can put a paper clip in the hole and touch the paperclip with your meter red. Meter reading should be infinity on all pins. If it isn't, your stator is shorted to the case, replace.

The following is for single phase systems. I don't have a multi-phase and haven't had to diagnose anyone else’s, so I haven't dug into those systems.

Set meter to lowest ohm scale, like 200 Ohms, typically. (Note: Not 200K ohms).Check resistance between the two stator plug pins. Should be fairly low. My Book says 0.2-0.4 ohms. The spec is in your shop manual. If it is infinity,stator is blown open. If it is 0, stator is shorted to itself.


Set meter to AC Volts, 100V scale. Attach each meter lead to a stator pin. You may need to rig up some type of temporary plug. It is important that nothing can short to ground or to each other accidentally, or you will blow the stator if it wasn't blown before. An old plug off of your last regulator is a good way to do it, but, get creative and be careful. I can do it holding the leads on the pins once the bike is running, but I don't like to. Start bike. Voltage should vary with engine speed. Specs are in your shop manual, but 35V at a couple thousand RPM is probably about right. My book says 19-26 V / 1K RPM.

If you passed that stator test and failed the first test, your regulator is shot. If you failed any part of the stator test, replace both regulator and stator.

 

While the problem you describe is best known as "The dreaded click" the possibility does exist that it could be a charging system problem.

 

Yeah, good catch, guys. Musta been too early for my brain to work properly.

 

Hey doc I wish you would start a thread with your charging system test then have a Mod make it a stickey and then lock it.

It is so useful to all of us it should be a sticky and if you do it like above people won't have to wade through a bunch of posts to find the info.

Just my 2 cents.

 

Yes indeed, one of the best test procedures ever posted. Thanks Doc!

 

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- thanks for the responses.

- its definitely not a charging issue as I measured the voltage at the battery's posts with the engine revved up (it was approx 14 volts). Idling engine : approx 12.5 volts.

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