Need help! Wireing newbe, stumped!

neverdown

Building chopper, 2003 softail. striped down, pretty basic. Crane ignition, single fire, dual coil ( Compufire ) no turnsignals, start button, etc. Spring type ignition mounted in coil holder. When I tried to start, it cranked a few times then quit. Battery posts were hot. Wait a minute, try to start, lights are on, I just get a click at the starter and the lights go out. Any ideas?
Thanks!

gs34

Sounds to me like you have something shorted or going to ground that should not be.I think I would recheck the wiring and connections and verify all are correct.

glider

Battery terminals need to be cleaned and or tightened. The hot terminals are the dead giveaway here.

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dangerdan

With my abilities I would check the following

1) Depending on engine mods, the starter could be to small to turn over the engine.
2) If the wiring is new, can it handle the amps ?
3) Has the frame been powder coated or painted ? Make sure that all ground wires are free of paint / powder coat and have a good quality serrated washer on the frame side. An ohm meter may show a good ground, but when you force that starter amps through, it cant handle the amps and generates heat. *** A GOOD QUALITY GROUND IS ESSENTIAL ***.
4) Does the engine even turn over on its own ?
5) Are the battery and wire terminals clean ?
6) Maybe the jackshaft assembly is sticking.
7) Check for pinched / worn wires.
8) If possible disconnect all non essential circuits except the starter to determine if this is a starter issue or something else.
9) Is the battery large enough to provide enough juice to turn over the engine ?

I am far from being an expert. These are just a few thing I would check .

neverdown

Thanks for all the help, I will follow your advice, let you knoqw how it turns out!

neverdown

I think my problem is in how I set up the wires on the ignition. Anyway, I took the solenoid and starter off to take it in and have it checked, make sure I didn't burn something out. When taking the starter off, the gear shaft fell out! The long screw that holds it in the starter, worked itself loose. Ever hear of that?
Anyway, there is an electrical shop down the street, going to take my wiring diagram ( which I found on this site, very helpful, thanks ) and ignition to him, he will show me what goes where. I have one of those plastic marine-type, spring loaded key ignitions, posts are marked S,C,A,M,B,M, which is totally different than anything I have seen in diagrams.
Thanks.

glider

There should be a lock tab on that so it doesn't come loose.

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