There have been some problems with the stock ignition start circuit as cruisers age. Personally, I think some of these problems come from the troubles with the stock solenoid going bad. Starter solenoids usually have two windings (coils) in them. This is to provide the extra power while pulling in the plunger to drive the bendix out to engage the flexplate (flywheel). In a properly operating system the solenoid can see 40-50 amps until the starter starts to spin, then the amps will drop to 10 or so until the motor starts. I think what happens when the solenoids are going bad is people are holding the key on to the start position for extended periods to try to get the motor started. This then allows 40-50 amps to flow through the ignition start switch, neutral safety switch, connectors, etc. for extended periods putting a burden on these parts. In the drawing is a simple solution that can take the burden off the ignition circuit allowing even a defective circuit to flow enough amps to start the cruiser. All it requires is a 50 amp fuse. A 50 amp relay, and a piece of 12 gauge wire. Run a wire from the positive battery post through a fuse to one big lug on the new relay, the other big lug down to the starter solenoid, connecting on where the stock solenoid wire now connects. Then take the stock solenoid wire and run it to one coil post on the new relay, the other coil post going to ground. This way all the ignition circuit has to pass is just a very small amount of amps to pull in the coil of the new relay.
The con with this idea is it adds another component that can fail. If it would fail all that would have to be done is to switch the stock solenoid wire from the relay coil post back to the starter solenoid and the system would be back to stock. An external solenoid can be substituted for the relay I mentioned.
This only has to do with the ignition circuit and not solenoid problems. Also, all this is just my opinion and $.02 worth so take it as such.
Bill
The con with this idea is it adds another component that can fail. If it would fail all that would have to be done is to switch the stock solenoid wire from the relay coil post back to the starter solenoid and the system would be back to stock. An external solenoid can be substituted for the relay I mentioned.
This only has to do with the ignition circuit and not solenoid problems. Also, all this is just my opinion and $.02 worth so take it as such.
Bill
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