[walken4life]

So, there I was.  The other day I was getting ready to leave for work on a fine Spring morning.  Wheel the bike out of the garage into the driveway and hit the button for the electric start; nothing happens.  I kick-started the bike easily enough and got to work without incident.  Checked the battery with a multimeter and it was at 12.7 V with the bike shut off.  Appeared to have been charging fine on the way there with no dimness in the lights, etc.  Went to leave work; and same thing.  Starter button does nothing.  I don't mind kick-starting the bike (heck, I even enjoy it most times), but I do like the flexibility of having both.  Especially nice for cold mornings or when I am feeling lazy and no one is watching.

I will spare you the full details of the troubleshooting process in this post, but I did put the battery on the charger but it did not take long for it to hit a full charge.  I am leaning toward bad starter solenoid at this point.  In looking through my two repair manuals and extensively through these forums, however, I can find no description of where the solenoid is physically located on the bike.  Kind of at a standstill for testing and repair in the meantime.  Any advice on where to look would be greatly appreciated. 

My bike is a 2002 Bullet 500 Classic ES.  Thanks in advance.  Keep the wind in your face, and the shiny side up.

[GreenMachine]

Now that I think about it..My 06 is inside the lockable side panel..Not sure about yours but look at your starter from the front of the bike,  just under the bend of your exhaust, follow the dc power cable/connection attached to the starter; back to the other side of the solenoid..It's apparently a common issue and discussed thoroughly in previous posts...It has been recommended to clean up the  electrical connections/cable end points...A build up of dirt/rust will increase the voltage drop across the solenoid vice applied to the starter...If that is indeed the problem...Check it out on the forum and you'll see some good thoughts on the subject..Hope that helps ya..GM

[Jack Leis]

 all you really have to do is follow the large wire and it will take you right to the solenoid.

[singhg5]

I am leaning toward bad starter solenoid at this point.  In looking through my two repair manuals and extensively through these forums, however, I can find no description of where the solenoid is physically located on the bike.  Kind of at a standstill for testing and repair in the meantime.  Any advice on where to look would be greatly appreciated. 

My bike is a 2002 Bullet 500 Classic ES.  Thanks in advance.  Keep the wind in your face, and the shiny side up.

Check this video link on solenoid and voltage drop test - it is for my UCE G5 2009. 

Your ES system may be similar to that of my bike hopefully.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV5wdGtP34o

[walken4life]

Thanks for the replies here, gives me some more to go on.  If anyone has more info specific to the solenoid location on the Bullet Classic model, that would be super.

[walken4life]

Update

Found the solenoid in the left toolbox, just where GreenMachine said it should be.  I ordered a Mercury Marine 12V solenoid off eBay ($15) and it arrived faster than I expected it to.  A note on installation; looked on the web and found polarity does not matter with solenoids.  This is especially good because the posts on old and new were not marked with them, haha!

Anywho, I installed the new one today.  While I was at it, I disconnected all the wiring harnesses in the left box and hit both sides of each connector with Electronics Cleaner then cleaned off the layer of grunge in the box.  The smaller pair of wires on the old solenoid were soldered on.  So I had to clip them and crimp on some small ring terminals to hook up the new one.

After installation, bike fired up with one quick push of the button.  In hindsight the electric start had been taking longer than usual to start the bike lately.  I can only assume that this is an indicator of a weak solenoid that is going south; so now I know.  Here are some pictures that will hopefully help some other poor soul:


Old Solenoid


New Solenoid