1982 XJ550 Maxim start issues

Hey guys, relatively new to this shindig.

Bought a 1982 550 maxim a few months ago, didn’t run because the carbs were in pretty dismal shape, but took it on anyway. Took the carbs off, went through cleaning them as per Church of Clean I’d found on here, replaced the boots, hooked it up and started like a dream. One carb overflowed out the air box, so I took them back off and set the fuel levels under the advice of another thread here.

Long story short, I put the carbs back on, and all I got when I push the starter was a single click. I figured I had a dead battery, so I charged the old one and got nothing. Checked the voltage, and the old battery was indeed shot, so I got a new one, made sure it was charged properly, hooked it up and again the single click. All my lights come on, I checked my wiring and that all seems to be in order too. I was thinking about replacing the solenoid, but under the advice of a buddy I tried bypassing the solenoid to see if it would turn over, and got nothing but sparks.

It seems odd to me that the starter would crap out in the three weeks between tries, so I’m not sure if that’s the issue or if I’m missing something.

Worth replacing the solenoid, or should I dive right into a starter rebuild? And if so, any advice on how to go about either of those things would be much appreciated!

 

hook meter to ground and measure voltage at solenoid that battery hooks to should see battery voltage. then hook to solenoid that the starter wire hooks to should see zero volts, then push starter button should see battery voltage but dropping.
if your starter is not working the voltage will drop down very low. if solinoid is not working you will not see any voltage.

then do a second test hook meter to battery to test voltage press starter button how low does voltage go if solenoid is bad voltage should not drop if voltage drops real low again bad starter. unless starter has failed Open.
you could pull battery and use cables to hook neg to motor and positive to starter wire bolt on starter if starter is good it should spin