Motorcycle Repair: electral problem on atv, bill silver, starter button

Question
1997 honda 300fourtax 4x4 put battery back in after charging,connected pos cable.soon as i touched neg started to turn over with key off replaced silanoid sill does it.fixed alot of things on this sence i bought it new.some knowlege of electrcal stuff not alot butt think i could fix it with a little help in the right direction thanks for any suggestions.....jeff

Answer
Jeff, don't have a lot of ATV experience, but if you disconnect the small wires from the solenoid, which activate the starter, then connect one at a time, you should be able to determine what wire is causing the circuit to close and follow it until you find the source of the problem. Could be a shorted starter button or pinched/grounded wire. Dunno if you can put the solenoid in backwards or not, but they often have a specific wiring hookup and if installed reversed the leads can activate or short out.

If you can get your hands on a wiring diagram, check to see if there are any diodes in the circuit, which are often used to control the flow of voltage in one direction only.

Bill Silver