Topic: Repairing solenoid el cheapo

[Hush]

OK here's a trick I learned many years ago when as a teenager I couldn't afford a replacement solenoid for my bike.
I just remembered it when my CB650PZ started not starting at the push of the button, initially diagnosing it as flat battery.
Remove solenoid from bike, undo the top nuts and washers from posts so posts are free to move.
Disassemble low voltage pins (small cross head screws hold them on).
Wiggle base away from the top "very carefully" as there are some fine copper wires in there you want to keep attached and snapping them will have you banging on the door of your local wrecker looking for a replacement solenoid.
Once you have a small gap between top and bottom of solenoid, slide some very fine wet'n dry or sand paper in and dress the big contact base which is the other end of the posts, you can push the posts down to make better contact with your sandpaper, blow out the debris and reconstruct the solenoid......there good for another 30 years.
Just done mine and the difference in starting is amazing, crap just builds up on the feet of the posts over time and makes for hard/no starting, who said they were a sealed unit? no such thing in my book.....enjoy...Hush.

[Alan F.]

Very nice, that'll go on my short list before my bike gets wired back up.  Thanks!   How's your summer going?

[Soos]

aha!!
thnx, and I was debating whether to scrap out the 3 spares I have that were "suspect".



And that means I should probably do this to the one on my '79.
Still using a stocker one. It's one of the few items that I haven't been into.
Gives me something to do(inside!) in this cold weather, hows the (?) summer treating you down there hush?


 

l8r

[crazypj]

if you unsolder the small wires you can usually flip the heavy copper contactor and it work like new for years

PJ

[Frankenkit]

unsolder the small wires? how's that done?
I just took mine apart and cleaned it, but I'm curious about this unsoldering thing if it makes these things easier to open up a little further.

[Duke McDukiedook]

Hey Kit,
I have found from my electronics days that desoldering is done the easiest with a desoldering wire and a soldering iron, you can buy them from your local electronic stores (looks like a small spool of braided copper wire). Takes solder off anything in a jif. Just make sure to tin anything you want to solder back together.
 

[Frankenkit]

I meant where do you disconnect these wires, etc, but I'm thinking this might be more than I want to choose to go into right now.   A woman needs to know her limitations.

[Hush]

Yeah you gotta be careful with them thin wires that are actually part of the field coil winding.
You can easily melt the plastic top part of the solenoid and make it junk if you solder too hot and old solder takes heat to remove it usually.
I'd leave sleeping dogs if I was you Kit, it sounds like you did a pretty good job anyway.

To thos easking about my summer  how does 37 degrees celcius sound?
It was 40 in some parts of my region last week, I did some riding and melted in my armoured gear, oh for the carefree days of my youth when a tee shirt, jandals and a pair of jeans was all we thought we needed to zip around at the ton!!!

I've heard tales of some white stuff called "snow" but never seen any round here!

[crazypj]

unsolder the small wires? how's that done?
I just took mine apart and cleaned it, but I'm curious about this unsoldering thing if it makes these things easier to open up a little further.

 second picture (even though its pretty blurred) shows contacts, spade connectors and just behind them blobs of solder.
 Use solder wick or whatever and it comes completely aparrt for easy cleaning/repair
PJ