need help with 85 honda big red 250 es

[neil]

I am trying to replace my starter selonoid on the big red. I bought a new selonoid and a new battery.I charged battery full and put on new selonoid the same way the old one looked but I cannot get any power to the trike.Its in neutral and when i turn the key the green light wont come on or the headlight. All the fuses look good and i cant find anything wrong with the wires,i took a steal brush to all the conects to make sure they make good contact,what else could it be,pleasse help!thanks a mill. Neil:

[neil]

i just ran out and checked them wires they appear to be fine.Does it mean anything that when i kick start it all lights work fine wouldnt that mesan the wires are all ok

[neil]

thats funny i know all about that s,o,b fuse,i ended up cuttin the rubber casing with a razor to get the little box out, opened er up and the fuse looked good,I just downloaded the manual for it last night cuz i lost the original I red all i could but when it comes to those wiring diagrams its like reaing chinease to me.electrical has to be the worst to work on ecspecially when there old dirty brittle wires all crammed in there I appreciate all your help,ill probably be on another couple hours,im new to the site and am enjoying loookin around

[neil]

Ya i put jumper cables to a good battery touched the pos to the top nut on the starter right? nothin happened so im guessin the starter is shot,but would the starter being bad break the battery connection to the lights. This all started when i borrowed it to my buddy last year so he could use it to bait bear,He stopped at a bait station baited it then jumped on the three wheller turned the key on and hammered on the starter button crankin away and it wouldnt start,he got freaked out cuz he was stranded in the middle of no where and it was gettin dark fast.He said the battery was almost completly dead when he relised he not only turned the key off but flipped the kill switch to,so he turned the switch on hit the button and it barely had the juice but it started,that was the last time the electric start ever worked,I should be droppin it off at his house and tellin him return it when its fixed.

[neil]

I wonder if mabey its the ignition switch thats bad.If i hooked the battery up and not the selonoid should i still get power?

[Howdy]

There are a few possible problems here. Broken wire, bad fuse, bad ignition switch, wire not connected, and a few other problems. Start with hooking everything up like it should be ( including a good battery ). Then using a test light start at the battery and test for power at each connection on the Pos wires. Make sure the test light is grounded to the motor and not the battery. Why? Because the motor should be grounded and if you start checking the possitive wire connections at the battery you can rule out the nevative connections right away.
Howdy

[neil]

All right guys,now i never said i was not an idiot,but i went to the shed today fired up the wood stove,and took another look at the trike.this time sober with a little more patience.I hooked battery straight to starter thinkin it may be bad,but she cranked no problem,I thought what the hell I double checked the main 20 amp fuse again the one thats hard as hell to get out of the rubber case,Well to the naked eye it looked great but a little touch with a screw driver and it turned into two pieces.PROBLEM solved!It only took a year and alot of beer.Thanks so much for all your help,and im sure we will talk again,im kind of restoring the red slowly,Im laid off right now from the ford plant so i have no money but alot of time.ps where do i find a fuse like that and do i buy the mettal fuse only or the plastic case come with it?Thanks a bunch

[neil]

pss on the selonoid theres the negative and pos wires,and then 2 thin wires one red and green the other yellow and red,witch one is witch?

[oscarmayer]

you can buy jsut the fuses from the auto store. what amp ya need? i have a few old glass cased fuses. now someone people put the icnrorect amp fuse in so lets ensure you get the correct one in there. i see according tot he manual u need a 15 and a 20 amp fuse. (has 2)

you can download the maniah for free off the link in my sig.

[neil]

ok heres the prob the fuse is like no other ive seen,its a flat piece of steel enclosed in a plastic case,Dennis kirk said it must be somethin the original owner did.I bought the machine five years ago from him.so I dont know if i should rig up my own set up or what

[oscarmayer]

it's not stock. so you can repalce it with a normal fuse. if you can spare $4 the auto store will have a new fuse and holder combo if needed otherwise the stnadard was a normal glass tubed fuse jsut liek found on most autos.

that old paper fuse is something they used back in the 70's on old stuff. he probelby had itin his tool box and said "eh, what they heck".

[neil]

Now were talkin the main fuse by the battery,actually the rubber case for the fuse attaches to the battery box.There is a sticker on the frame that says main fuse 20 amp with a arrow pointing right at it,is that the original fuse it a thin strip of metal with a screw on each end holding on a wire on each end enclosed in a little plastic box, witch inserts into the rubber housing attaching to the battery box

[neil]

ok sounds good ill by new fuse and carrier tomorrow,ill let ya know how it goes!with me things are never as easy as they appear.

[neil]

YA i never seen fuse like that,How come I have to re log into this site like every 15 min,its like i get booted if im not constantly movin in here?any who my reds the most reliable machine i ever owned,I also have a max 6x6 but its broke more then its runnin,it needs some welding now so till i can trailer it to my buddies place its collectin dust.The thing is a blast when runnin though.

[oscarmayer]

ytour AV or isp is doing it.

haha yea these old hondas are tanks. theya re hard to kill and you shoudl see the stuff i see running. it defies the laws of all motors! really the 125m i just redid was runing i drove it into the garage. it shoudl have never ever even spuddered...

it's jsut a testiment to how well honda made them.

[Howdy]

neil, I am willing to bet that the fuse you have is a original Honda fuse. Honda used such fuses in the Big Reds. The last one I bought at the dealer was only $1 or so.

Howdy

[oscarmayer]

yea you can try that too if ya want. (assumign they have one)

[neil]

I went out and dug around in the shed and come up with a fuse set up,actually it was the one that came with the new selonoid i bought a year ago.I got it workin thank god!Now the wife can use it to run to the mail box,she couldnt ever get the kick start down or tell if it was in neutral with out the light.She told me to quit being obsessed with the thing,but what does she kow?Now that thats done i need to figure what to do next.I might mess with the shocks,or mabey the breaks,i think ill definatley studd the tires.Thanks alot for your help you guys are all pretty awesome!

[oscarmayer]

cool man! glad it got working. hey you fixed it. we jsut helped with the missing peices. :) Hats off bro!