mule 550 starter clicks

[Mulepatrick]

Well all. I figured out the hesitation/running issue. You won't believe it but the roll cage is full of mud! I removed the hose from the air box and all good. Now another issue.  On my second starter. They last a few days and then just start clicking from the solenoid.  Sometime if you hit the key a few quick turns it will spin. It always turns by jumping the igniter wire. Continuity is good on that wire as well. Thanks for any help.

[Travis]

My starter did that several years ago, just replaced it and that fixed it.

 Im not sure what the igniter wire is, my 550 dont have a igniter.

i wonder if something is wrong with your ignition switch? 

are you using OEM starters or cheaper starters?

another thing i would check is to rule out the neutral safety switch is while having the key in the start position, wiggle the gear shift back and forth a bit, since the safety switch interrupts  power to the starter.

 Battery good?

[Mulepatrick]

Hey Travis...yes you sometimes get it to start by moving the redshift back and forth...i took the switch out of transaxle and it's a spring loaded type plunger..looked ok to me. .only 1 wire to it...can you explain how it works? Thx!

[Travis]

I honestly can't explain how it works, I probably could If I have tore into the trans  and watched how it works but haven't. It has something to do with that plunger making contact with something inside the trans and interrupting power supply

What did the tip of your switch look like? Was it perfectly round, or showed wear? 

Also check and clean battery ground cable where it goes to the frame.

[Willy M]

could be a faulty solenoid. When it does not start tap the solenoid with a hammer and if it starts you know what to replace.

[Travis]

1 hour ago, Willy M said:

could be a faulty solenoid. When it does not start tap the solenoid with a hammer and if it starts you know what to replace.

Yep, I had to do that to my Mule before

[Mulepatrick]

It was the neutral safety switch--I grounded it and now cranks every time---I'm working on my mule 1000-replaced the water cooled blown engine with a 407 cc duramax I had--runs great waiting on a new accelerator cable---have a question for someone--I pulled the engine block off the transaxle and plated it with a home made piece of aluminum--does anyone know how the oil pump in the  transaxle is driven--is it by then engine or??  I did refill the required 3.8 quarts of oil--I just want to make sure the gearbox gets enough lubrication--thanks!

[Travis]

Glad you got it working!

I do not know about the 1000, I will do some reading and digging.

[Mulepatrick]

Thanks..Im looking as well...I really like that 1000 .its super heavily build.. Would love to have kept it orginalbut the repairs were way too high..

[Dan B]

On 9/29/2019 at 8:33 AM, Mulepatrick said:

Hey Travis...yes you sometimes get it to start by moving the redshift back and forth...i took the switch out of transaxle and it's a spring loaded type plunger..looked ok to me. .only 1 wire to it...can you explain how it works? Thx!

I'll try to explain it in words; pictures would be better.  Here goes:

You have 12vdc from the battery to the starter solenoid at all times.  When you activate the ignition switch to the start position, it provides a ground path from the solenoid through the ignition switch onward to the neutral safety switch.  The neutral safety switch provides the final round connection when the transmission is in neutral.  The "igniter" wire is the ground connection that goes to the ignition switch.