I have a Chinese 110cc ATV with a starting issue. Has been ridden 4 times and sat up for 2 years. I went to hook up new battery with main switch and key switch off, and the engine turned over when the battery was connected. I bought a new CDI, key switch, handlebar switch, and starter solenoid and it still starts when battery is connected. I removed the starter relay/ solenoid, and it will turn over with that removed and battery connected. I have checked all wiring, and everything checks out. Could the starter itself be stuck in the engaged position? Please help.

 

Something here is not making sense. Lets back up a bit...

Starters do not turn by themselves. You have to provide power to them, and a *lot* of power at that. So don't look for any mechanical reason for the starter to be "engaged all the time". It *is* engaged (through a starter clutch) all the time. What determines whether your starter turns or not is whether or not the battery is connected to the starter motor.

Once again, starter motor needs a *lot* of power to turn. That means they need a lot of current at 12 volts - like around 30-40 amps. That also means the wires feeding the starter motor are big thick conductors. This makes your job easier since you can ignore any smaller gauge wires for this problem. You don't need a meter for this one.

Look at your battery (+) terminal. Follow the big heavy thick red wire to your starter solenoid. This will be a screw post connection on the solenoid. Follow the big thick wire on the *other* screw post on the solenoid to the starter motor input post (also a screw terminal).

That solenoid is what connects/disconnects the battery from your starter motor. The way it works is to short those two screw terminals together (hooking the battery directly to the starter motor), or disconnecting the two terminals (disconnecting any power to the starter).

You say you completely removed the starter solenoid and the starter still turns. This is not possible, since removing the solenoid will disconnect all power to starter at it's source. It would be like if you told me you removed the battery and the starter still turns . So I suspect that you are perhaps misidentifying something else as the starter solenoid.

Another thing that often happens is that the lugs to the 2 bolt terminals of the solenoid get twisted and short to one another, thus bypassing the solenoid. You should be able to see this visually.

And the solenoid could indeed be bad if it is shorted across the two terminals inside. But removing the solenoid would stop the starter from turning. This is another reason why I think you are misidentifying the solenoid.

 

Lynn, I know this does sound crazy and impossible, but it is the truth. By the way, my background is 15 years of being a Corporate Jet Technician, and almost 20 years of restoring classic cars and trucks as a hobby. I have never touched an ATV until recently. Yes, I am 100% sure of what a starter solenoid is, and looks like, and I am very aware that it should cut power to the starter when solenoid is removed from the system. But that is not the case here for some reason. To throw a wrench in the whole scenario, last night I removed the solenoid, unplugged the key switch, unplugged the handlebar switch, and removed the "alarm box" and hooked up the battery. Guess what? It still turned over on its own. I am stumped.

 

I think we are in agreement that the starter motor won't turn all by itself. It needs a source of power, and it needs a lot of power. We already have proved that - when you remove the battery the starter stops turning.

If you were to disconnect the heavy gauge wire feeding the starter motor input screw post then the starter motor could not possibly turn. You could try this if you want, but since there is no other path to get power to the starter motor we can probably skip this step - unless you need to convince yourself that ghosts and demons aren't involved here .

If you follow the wire from the starter motor input post it goes to the output side of the starter solenoid. But you said the solenoid is removed. Thus this wire would be hanging free. In other words the starter motor is disconnected. It is disconnected at the other end of a 2 foot long piece of wire instead of right at the starter motor, but it is still disconnected. Therefore the starter cannot turn.

This fact that your starter *is* turning when you hook up the battery means that something in the above scenario isn't as described. Go back and take a fresh look. Get the starter motor to stay still with the solenoid removed. Make sure you have one and only one wire (fat heavy gauge) going from the starter to one of the starter solenoid posts. And make sure that no other wire attachs to the solenoid post that feeds the starter motor.

 

Any answers ? I disconnected the key ignition switch and the starter kept turning as soon as I connect the positive post on the battery

 

9 year old post and OP was either winding Lyn Edwards up or barking mad. In your case the starter solenoid has stuck so you have a faulty solenoid.