couple questions

[Coastiejoe]

No there is no change in the voltage when clamping the tester leads to the terminals and pushing the start/stop button.

That makes sense to me as you really are not creating a drain.. You are not cranking the motor, thus no drain...

Ok,,,

Lets take a step back here.

If you have a GOOD battery, GOOD wires and connections, GOOD starter, then it will crank if you jump the solenoid (assuming the engine is not seized).

If it does not crank, you have an issue with volts/amps. Period !!!!

So lets figure this out.

Have you removed and cleaned the large red and black wires?
Did you remove the wire from the starter to clean and inspect?
Did you remove the ground at the starter to clean and inspect?

There is a small wire that ground the solenoid. If this wire failed, then you will have a no start issue. Check this wire for continuity and ensure it is in fact grounded.

Take a set of jumper cables and, using the battery in the ski (as this will tell us if it really is a good battery), connect the hot lead to the output wire of the solenoid (it runs directly to the starter). It is best if you can connect to the starter but that is challenging. Take the other hot lead to the hot terminal. It should crank as the battery is grounded and the starter is grounded. If it does not, then connect the ground wire from the battery to the motor.

Let us know what you get...

 

[shucky]

Got crankage connecting the battery and the soleniod. Turning over nicely... Now thinking key post maybe?

 

[Coastiejoe]

Got crankage connecting the battery and the soleniod. Turning over nicely... Now thinking key post maybe?

Ok,,, One step at a time...
I ASSUME you mean, you connected ONLY the hot wire and it worked. If so, the following is correct.

This tells us the following.
1). Good battery
2). Good ground
3). Good wire from the solenoid to the starter.
4). Good starter.

Bottom line is, you should be able to jump the two large posts on the solenoid and it should crank. The fact that it is not I think you have a bad wire or bad connection from the battery to the solenoid.

Try this,,,

Take the hot jumper cable and go to the OTHER post of the solenoid and the hot lead to the positive side of the battery. Nothing should happen. However, you should be able to jump the solenoid and it should crank. If it does, then you have a bad wire or connection at the positive battery terminal or the solenoid terminal.

So, lets try what I suggested and tell me what you get.

 

[shucky]

Ok,,,
Try this,,,

Take the hot jumper cable and go to the OTHER post of the solenoid and the hot lead to the positive side of the battery. Nothing should happen. However, you should be able to jump the solenoid and it should crank. If it does, then you have a bad wire or connection at the positive battery terminal or the solenoid terminal.

So, lets try what I suggested and tell me what you get.

Ok I've got crankage there as well, then used the volt meter and went from pos side of the battery to the large red wire on the solenoid ( wire with 2 red wires coming from it) and testing 12.83 volts.
The large Relay fuse in the smaller fuse box, shouldn't it have continuntiy? and if so wouldn't it give a reading testing all 4 fuse prongs? If this fuse is bad could it be that I'm getting power to the solenoid and not going through this fuse? ( IE,, the solenoid not jumping the starter without using the battery).

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

I guess you should still have spark at full throttle(so please ground those plug wires to avoid coil damage and accidentally igniting bilge fumes), but the MPEM won't fire the injectors during WOT to starve fuel during cranking. This is the fuel-flooded clearing mode (cranking WOT, no fuel).

WOT during compression test is the way to do it, ground plug wires and all plugs removed with full battery for fastest crank speed, crank speed has a large effect on compression results.

Ideas for the rest, throwing some ideas out there: In case it's not oil, the fluid on plugs could be fuel? Injectors could be dirty and leaking fuel into cylinders? Could be water too, just ideas here....... Of course if there's too much of any liquid (like water, oil or fuel) in the cylinders the spark plugs will wet-foul, causing rough running and hard starting!

Good luck man, I hope you get it fixed up!

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

Ok I've got crankage there as well, then used the volt meter and went from pos side of the battery to the large red wire on the solenoid ( wire with 2 red wires coming from it) and testing 12.83 volts.
The large Relay fuse in the smaller fuse box, shouldn't it have continuntiy? and if so wouldn't it give a reading testing all 4 fuse prongs? If this fuse is bad could it be that I'm getting power to the solenoid and not going through this fuse? ( IE,, the solenoid not jumping the starter without using the battery).

Yep, all fuses should conduct and the voltage on both ends should be the same at all times! Those fuses should not be open circuit!

 

[shucky]

Cheers sportster
however I believe the starting issue is basically narrowed down to something electrical at the moment. The ski wont start or turn over without connecting jumper cables to the solenoid and battery ( ie I cant even jump the solenoid just by crossing the 2 terminals I have to connect to the battery.) to make it crank.

 

[shucky]

Cheers sportster
however I believe the starting issue is basically narrowed down to something electrical at the moment. The ski wont start or turn over without connecting jumper cables to the solenoid and battery ( ie I cant even jump the solenoid just by crossing the 2 terminals I have to connect to the battery.) to make it crank.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

Cheers sportster
however I believe the starting issue is basically narrowed down to something electrical at the moment. The ski wont start or turn over without connecting jumper cables to the solenoid and battery ( ie I cant even jump the solenoid just by crossing the 2 terminals I have to connect to the battery.) to make it crank.

Agreed, electrical issue is the current symptom. Also, in case nobody has mentioned, recharging battery while connected to the ski's computer can damage the computer (especially 1990's models), some of the old chargers put out too much voltage. So, I recommend to disconnect the negative battery cable if/when charging the battery from an external source, anything much greater than 14.3 volts (including any voltage spike) can damage the engine control system.

Sounds like you found a blown fuse, hopefully replacing it (always use correct size rating to avoid damage) get's the system back up! Best of luck shucky!

Okay, it's 02:00am here, I'm off to bed!

 

[shucky]

All fuses have been checked testing good, something between the battery and starter I'm guessing and still testing.
Still wondering about the relay in the smaller fuse box issue.

 

[Coastiejoe]

Ok.

Just to clarify.

Will NOT crank unless the jumper is connected from positive side of battery to the hot/positive side of solenoid. Correct?

If this is the case then the wire that runs from the solenoid to the battery is bad or has poor connection.

As this has been on-going go by a generic RED cable that is long enough and put the new cable in place. You can leave the old one in there for now, this is just to confirm things.

I am all but certain once you replace this cable it will crank either via the push start or at least by jumping the solenoid. No matter what other issues you may have, it MUST be able to crank when you jump the solenoid.

 

[shucky]

No worries Joe
Cheers for the pm reply, I'll get the cable in a couple hours and see if they have that relay as well as its 6 am here.
Lastnite as we was getting the motor to crank we did try both ways that's cranking without holding the throttle open then with holding it full throttle and holding the start/stop button << seemed to have a bit better/faster crankange. Any way I'll wait for the parts shop to open and see what I can find.

 

[shucky]

Well Joe I'm pleased to say after changing the pos battery cable and new relay in the small fuse box the ole girl has cranked without a problem. Man if you was here I'd buy U a carton of ya favourite liquid...u ever make it to this side of the pond and round south aus....look me up... I owe U massive. Cheers for your and others help.. Nice :thumbsup:

 

[Coastiejoe]

Well Joe I'm pleased to say after changing the pos battery cable and new relay in the small fuse box the ole girl has cranked without a problem. Man if you was here I'd buy U a carton of ya favourite liquid...u ever make it to this side of the pond and round south aus....look me up... I owe U massive. Cheers for your and others help.. Nice :thumbsup:

Very good,,,
Glad to hear you got it going... Once you got to the point where some specific issues existed in specific circumstances I knew we could get it as long as you gave me the info I was asking for.

Sorry it took a while but glad we got there.

I will close this thread in a day or two. Anything new start a new post as it would just get buried here.

Now go ride and enjoy...

BTW,,, did visit AUS 2 yrs ago for a vacation. Did Sydney, Great Barrier Reef, Steve Irwin Zoo and some other sites... Appreciate the offer though..