1970 R60/5 Starter will not stop

The starter on my 1970 R60/5 will not turn off even with the key out. I replaced the old starter button and the stater relay. My thought now is that the stater solenoid is hanging up. Has anyone had this issue before?

The solenoid on the air cooled engines is merely a huge relay. It switches/converts the low power amperage of your handlebar switch to the amperage available from the battery to the starter motor..........Yes, it's possible for the thing to short out....BUT.......really unlikely. For me, it would seem to be that you did some wiring and installed new replacement devices that the problem would be there........Something crossed up????..............God bless.......Dennis

It's been a long time since I have looked at an airhead wiring diagram or even worked on an airhead. I do own one that I bought in 82 and haven't ridden in years. From what I remember the above description of how it operates is correct for an airhead. With that being said, if you take the low power connection off of the solenoid on the starter and it continues to run, then you have a solenoid problem. If it stops running when you remove the low power connection then you have a problem with your wiring or starter button.

Thanks for the input. The problem actually started before I changed things. I will try removing the wire from the relay and see if that works.

So, whatcha find out??

What IMO said.

Y'know, I had this happen on an airhead several years ago, but I no longer remember what I did to fix it. You could pull the tank and lift the starter cover and lay open the whole system to determine why the starter solenoid stays energized when the start button is released.

As always with any electrical issue, make sure that the battery is fully charged.

Be careful! There has to be a high amperage "hot" wire running to the solenoid so that when you press the starter button on the handlebar, the "low" amperage "hot" wire will energize the solenoid and then transfer the power of the high amp hot wire thru to the starter. Having said that, that means that you don't want to go poking around where those various components with a screwdriver as you might actually touch the "hot" high amp wire and cause some more problems.

What I would do is to identify the solenoid, and remove it, carefully take it apart and totally clean. It is possible that the contacts have sufficiently gotten marred to the point that they stick together. Be very careful not to damage any of the very fine wiring that is used on the magnetic coil and to the internal connections. Just clean out everything and make sure (using small wire connectors to your car battery) that the solenoid is properly working (has a slight clicking noise) and the high amp contacts are working (touching when energized and separated when non-energized).

Then reassemble the whole solenoid, using a sealer and even JB Weld to hold together if the original weak "tabs" have broken off or gotten corroded to the point where they won't work.