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This is CRAZY please help !!

450guy

Well-known Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2021
Total Posts
62
Total likes
1
Location
Jackson,TN,Madison
I have a 1970 Honda CL 450 that I am trying to get running again. I have a brand new battery and new ignition switch that has off and then two on places or two clicks. Whenever I turn on the ignition switch with the battery hooked up I don't get the click at the starter solenoid which is brand new. I didn't get the click on the old solenoid either. If i jump to the other side of the solenoid then it will click whenever I press the starter button. Is there a positive and negative side of the solenoid or does it matter which way you hook it up ? Is there something I'm missing besides good sense ? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Johnny

solenoid.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
1st thing I see in your picture is the 2 small Red wires are on the wrong post. Those provide battery power to the rest of the bike, as well as charging the battery when running. Right now you will only have power when the solenoid is engaged.
 
I have a 1970 Honda CL 450 that I am trying to get running again. I have a brand new battery and new ignition switch that has off and then two on places or two clicks. Whenever I turn on the ignition switch with the battery hooked up I don't get the click at the starter solenoid which is brand new. I didn't get the click on the old solenoid either. If i jump to the other side of the solenoid then it will click whenever I press the starter button. Is there a positive and negative side of the solenoid or does it matter which way you hook it up ? Is there something I'm missing besides good sense ? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Johnny

Moved to DOHC 450 Electrical section

I took a screenshot of the PDF that you posted, you should post a picture so we don't have to save the PDF and open it to see what you're referring to. This will show you how to post pictures.

Jim is absolutely right, the ring terminal with the 2 red wires needs to go to the battery + along with the short heavy cable attached to the solenoid, then the entire wiring harness will have power as well as the solenoid itself. If your small gauge wires to the solenoid are correctly connected it should turn over as well as have ignition to start.
 
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This might help further. To be safe, disconnect the negative terminal of the battery first, connect the positives as shown and then reconnect the negative terminal

solenoid.jpg
 
I just went out and changed the wires around as ya'll suggested and that was exactly correct. Thank you very much for the help.
Johnny
 
This might help further. To be safe, disconnect the negative terminal of the battery first, connect the positives as shown and then reconnect the negative terminal

Ancientdad, I really admire your patience and the time you spend to respond to these type of questions.
 
Ancientdad, I really admire your patience and the time you spend to respond to these type of questions.

Thanks Jensen, but this is why we have a forum. Yes, we share our bike pictures and rebuild/restoration adventures too but if we don't take the time to help and educate members who are new to our favorite vintage Hondas, fewer of these bikes would be saved and kept on the road. It only took me 5 minutes to save the picture in his PDF, annotate it a bit and re-post it to help him see how simple the solution was. To me, that is a big part of what a good forum should be.
 
I agree completely, and I think, that sharing information without an underlaying question is also important. In daily life I'm a R&D manager, and instead of answering questions, I point out directions where someone can find answers to their questions, just a different approach. That's why I made the remark about admiring your patience. If I would do things the way you do, I would only answer questions from people of my team all day...
 
If I would do things the way you do, I would only answer questions from people of my team all day...

And for you, in your work, that's completely understandable since work production is obviously a big part of it. But here, with me being retired, I can take all the time I want to help people find and understand things. And remember, many of our members are older like myself so they may not have the well-developed internet skills to find things they don't necessarily know even exist, so we fill in the blanks for them... and as I often say, "teach a man to fiche..." and he'll find parts for the rest of his life.
 
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