[gambler]

This is my first post on this board, and I'm sorry to be beating a dead horse but here goes. I've seen a number of post on here making reference to the solenoid clicking problem on Honda ATV's. I am having the same issue. However, mine is not doing it all the time like most of the others on the board.

Sometimes my 1999 300TRX will start fine by using the electric start. Then, all of a sudden, it will click at the solenoid thus causing me to use the kick start. Once I kick off the ATV, I can cut the key off and back on, which will allow the electric to work fine. After shutting the ATV off again, the solenoid will sometimes click and other times it will work fine.

I've not checked the battery power for the simple fact I've never had to charge the battery after the ATV has set for months thus making me think the battery is OK. It starts right up. I'm wondering if I may have a loose connection somewhere and the riding sometimes interrupts the connection causing it not to want to start, or I have a solenoid going bad. I've not checked the connections or terminals yet, but will do that this weekend. Is there any thing I should check besides the connections and battery before ordering a solenoid or do you guys think the solenoid is on it's way out?

This problem just started all at once and like mentioned, don't do it all the time. Any help or information is appreciated. Thanks

 

[TRX2fiveO]

Welcome to the forums. I would say if I had to guess you either have a loose terminal somewhere mainly the grounds, or the starter button is going bad. The button has a spring behind it and over time it can collapse or even break causing an intermitten starting issue.

 

[gambler]

Thanks for the welcome. I'm going to check over the connections this weekend to see if I can figure out the problem. Thanks again for the response and advice. I appreciate it.

 

[Pain]

Frankly, it sounds like the battery to me. When you kick start it, it will throw a little charge into the battery which then allows you to use the electric starter for a short period of time. Let it sit and the battery being weak will lose the charge and you're back where you were.

Put a charger on it over night and see if it gets better. If not, jump start it from a car and see if it starts without first kick starting it.

It may be a connection or could also be the solenoid going bad, but I would not rule out the battery just because of what you described. Clean the connections and then try jump starting it and/or charging the battery good before you start spending money.

 

[gambler]

Frankly, it sounds like the battery to me. When you kick start it, it will throw a little charge into the battery which then allows you to use the electric starter for a short period of time. Let it sit and the battery being weak will lose the charge and you're back where you were.

Put a charger on it over night and see if it gets better. If not, jump start it from a car and see if it starts without first kick starting it.

It may be a connection or could also be the solenoid going bad, but I would not rule out the battery just because of what you described. Clean the connections and then try jump starting it and/or charging the battery good before you start spending money.

Thanks for the information. I'll give it a good look over this weekend and post my findings if I come across any. Thanks again.

 

[Helmut]

Sounds more like a bad battery to me, too. Just because you've never had to charge the battery before doesn't mean the battery is good. A battery can give out on you anytime. The first thing you want to do is to make sure the battery is good. To tell if a battery is good, you need to charge it fully and do a load test on it with a battery tester. If you determine the battery to be good, then the next step is to make sure all your connections are clean and tight.

If you don't have a way to test the battery, do like Pain suggested and hook it to a known good car battery with a set of jumper cables and see if it will start every time.

 

[MNRedneck]

Battery is a good place to start. However on my 98 Recon, my problem was acting identical to Gambler's and it turned out to be my starter (I had replaced the battery 2 weeks prior). It was hit or miss starting with the elec start, but if I pull started it and shut it off, 90 plus percent of the time I could fire it right back up with the elec start, but not always. Just sayin....

 

[Helmut]

Battery is a good place to start. However on my 98 Recon, my problem was acting identical to Gambler's and it turned out to be my starter (I had replaced the battery 2 weeks prior). It was hit or miss starting with the elec start, but if I pull started it and shut it off, 90 plus percent of the time I could fire it right back up with the elec start, but not always. Just sayin....

Yeah, it could be the starter, but I always start with checking the battery and connections first. A good way to test the starter is to use a set of jumper cables. Hook one end to a known good battery and on the other end, hook the ground to the starter casing or the engine. Touch the hot to the post on the starter. If the starter doesn't turn it's bad.

You can test the solenoid by using an old screwdriver to jump the two posts on the solenoid. If the starter is good, it will turn. Make sure you have a good battery or the test won't be accurate.

 

[shadetree]

i'm with helmut and pain on this..bad battery..once it runs..it has charged the battery enough to crank by the elec start.

 

[gambler]

i'm with helmut and pain on this..bad battery..once it runs..it has charged the battery enough to crank by the elec start.

I'll check the battery to start off with. However, here is basically in a nutshell what it does. The ATV set for months in my garage. I go out, get on it and start it up. I then get out in the woods and the solenoid clicks right out of the blue. There was no type of warning signs before it happen. After the clicking began, I then kick it off and it starts right up. I was experimenting a little bit and as soon as it starts on the kick start, I shut it back off with the key and turn it back on. Then it fires right up using the electric start. It's like when I kick it off, it resets something someway or the other. I mean the battery feels strong as the ATV starts on the electric start in a split second when it is working properly. I just barely have to touch the switch and it fires right up without any slow cranking or anything. So it feels like the battery has plenty of cranking power, but I'm not really up to date on the utility ATV's.

The above scenario happened in the beginning, but now it won't start every time off the electric start after kicking it off and sometimes it will. It's reminds me of something loose and not getting a connection every time. But anyway, I appreciate all the feedback and I'll try the steps given by members this weekend when I try to correct the problem.

One thing I have a question about is does the brightness of the headlights rely on the power of the battery? Again, I've not had much experience with utility ATV's and don't know how bright the lights should be on a 1999 model compared to newer ones but the lights, although not dim, do not appear to be as bright as I think they should be. I don't know. Anyway, I'm gonna try to get it lined out and see what I can find.

 

[Fourtrax]

I've had similar problems with my 300 and its always always always the ground terminal on the battery. I can pull the seat open the lid tighten the ground with my leatherman and it fires right up. I finally put a lock washer on the terminal and it has never done it since. Thats just my experience so take it for what its worth.

 

[Helmut]

Might be the starter. The next time it won't start with the electric start, try tapping on the starter with a hammer to jar it and see if it will start then.

As for the headlights, the Fourtrax 300 doesn't really have bright lights to begin with, in my opinion, but a weak battery would make them dimmer.

 

[shadetree]

i'm with helmut and pain on this..bad battery..once it runs..it has charged the battery enough to crank by the elec start.

I'll check the battery to start off with. However, here is basically in a nutshell what it does. The ATV set for months in my garage. I go out, get on it and start it up. I then get out in the woods and the solenoid clicks right out of the blue. There was no type of warning signs before it happen. After the clicking began, I then kick it off and it starts right up. I was experimenting a little bit and as soon as it starts on the kick start, I shut it back off with the key and turn it back on. Then it fires right up using the electric start. It's like when I kick it off, it resets something someway or the other. I mean the battery feels strong as the ATV starts on the electric start in a split second when it is working properly. I just barely have to touch the switch and it fires right up without any slow cranking or anything. So it feels like the battery has plenty of cranking power, but I'm not really up to date on the utility ATV's.

The above scenario happened in the beginning, but now it won't start every time off the electric start after kicking it off and sometimes it will. It's reminds me of something loose and not getting a connection every time. But anyway, I appreciate all the feedback and I'll try the steps given by members this weekend when I try to correct the problem.

One thing I have a question about is does the brightness of the headlights rely on the power of the battery? Again, I've not had much experience with utility ATV's and don't know how bright the lights should be on a 1999 model compared to newer ones but the lights, although not dim, do not appear to be as bright as I think they should be. I don't know. Anyway, I'm gonna try to get it lined out and see what I can find.

check battery..check starter..check headlight bulb socket..they rust up..and won't make a good ground contact...if the bulb socket is rusted up..this will give you a dim look from your lights.

 

[Dirtyhonda]

just got done fising the exact same problemin my 94 formenand it was the starter brushes.

 

[Paquette]

Sounds to me like a dead spot in your starter as Dirtyhonda has aluded to.

 

[99trx440ex]

did you end up fingering it out?? you, me, and so many others have this same problem on here....:icon_ rocker::icon_ rocker::icon_ rocker::icon_ rocker::icon_ rocker::icon_ rocker::icon_ rocker:

 

[gambler]

did you end up fingering it out?? you, me, and so many others have this same problem on here....:icon_ rocker::icon_ rocker::icon_ rocker::icon_ rocker::icon_ rocker::icon_ rocker::icon_ rocker:

I've still not got it figured out yet. Went over to my dad's garage today to tinker with it a little bit. I haven't ridden the thing in about two months, but as soon as I went in, turned the key on and hit the switch, it fired right up. After that, I did the following in an effort to checking over items.

- Checked solenoid connections, which were tight and clean.
- Checked battery connections. Took them loose and went over them with a wire brush, put them back on and tightened them.
- Traced the connections down to my starter, both of them where tight as well.

I then turned the key back on, hit the key switch five or six times after turning the key on and off, the ATV started every time. I then rode the ATV about a mile on a side road. Shut it off and it starts the first time off the switch, but not the second time, the solenoid clicks. I then have to kick it off. Get back to my dad's garage and it's still not starting via the electric start and I'm still getting the clicking at the solenoid.

I've not done any test on the starter yet, but was thinking by the ATV starting six times on the key switch one right after the other, isn't that a pretty good indication the starter doesn't have a dead spot in it? I personally don't know though.

I forgot to hook the battery up my vehicle via cables though. As for crossing over the solenoid with a screwdriver. Someone said that practice could cause CDI box problems. I think that is what they called it anyway.

One question I do have is this? There are wires coming from the solenoid which lead to a white connector, which the wires snap together with some others via the connection. Is there any chance this could be a problem. I pushed both ends of the connector and it appears to be snapped together.

I don't know what is wrong with it. Although it kicks off with ease, it just erks me that I can't figure out what is wrong with this thing. I didn't have a whole lot of time today. I'm going to go back next Saturday and see what I can do and hopefully figure it out.

 

[Helmut]

As for crossing over the solenoid with a screwdriver. Someone said that practice could cause CDI box problems. I think that is what they called it anyway.

I've messed with ATVs for over 25 years and I've jumped the solenoid many, many times and it's never caused a problem with the CDI.

Try tapping the starter with a hammer while you're pushing the start button and and see if the starter tries to work.

 

[gambler]

As for crossing over the solenoid with a screwdriver. Someone said that practice could cause CDI box problems. I think that is what they called it anyway.

I've messed with ATVs for over 25 years and I've jumped the solenoid many, many times and it's never caused a problem with the CDI.

Try tapping the starter with a hammer while you're pushing the start button and and see if the starter tries to work.

Thanks for that information. I'll give it a whirl next weekend as the old lady is going Christmas shopping with her family for two days so I'll have all kinds of time to fool with it..LOL. I'll give an update on what I find as well, if I find anything.

 

[gambler]

Talked to a mechanic at a local dealership and he tells me the problem is more in likely the brushing in the starter after I explained to him what it was doing. I'm going to change these to see if that fixes the problem.