Hi. I have a 1974 Harley Sportster. I broke one of the lugs on the original solenoid, so I replaced the solenoid. The new one wouldn't work, it didn't click or anything, so I took it off to bench test it. I connected it properly to a 12v car battery. The pull in coil worked once and wouldn't work again. The hold in coil seems fine. I checked everything I could think of, tried different jumper wires, etc.
Finally gave in and bought a different brand for twice the money that seemed identical. Bench tested it before I installed it. Same problem. Pull in worked once and never again, while hold in seems fine. I checked the resistance on both circuits on both solenoids and they are around .5.
I don't know much about electricity other than it's magic, but this seems really weird to me. Afaik it would be pretty difficult to burn anything out even if I connected the jumper wires wrong, correct? And since the pull in circuit shows .5 ohms of resistance, that indicates that it isn't open, correct? Which means it should work, right? So why doesn't it? Makes me nuts.
This is the YouTube video showing test procedures that I've been going by. It's less than three minutes long.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, I have no idea what I'll do next. It's especially bad because this bike has no kick starter.
Finally gave in and bought a different brand for twice the money that seemed identical. Bench tested it before I installed it. Same problem. Pull in worked once and never again, while hold in seems fine. I checked the resistance on both circuits on both solenoids and they are around .5.
I don't know much about electricity other than it's magic, but this seems really weird to me. Afaik it would be pretty difficult to burn anything out even if I connected the jumper wires wrong, correct? And since the pull in circuit shows .5 ohms of resistance, that indicates that it isn't open, correct? Which means it should work, right? So why doesn't it? Makes me nuts.
This is the YouTube video showing test procedures that I've been going by. It's less than three minutes long.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, I have no idea what I'll do next. It's especially bad because this bike has no kick starter.