Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

I bought a 94 Elite with an aftermarket exhaust which was leaking, even though the previous owner put some type of red stuff on it to try to seal it. I figured I would go back to a stock muffler and it would be easy enought to install. On the cylinder head, the top bolt stud is thicker at the base, so when i put the muffler on with the new gasket, the muffler does not sit flush on the cylinder head. The bottom bolt stud is all of the same size (thickness) so the muffler will go to the base of the cylinder on the bottom side. This makes it so it is not sealed all of the way. Is this correct? I looked at the parts diagrams from Honda, and my bolts and muffler are the same as the diagram.

The previous owner also said that the electric start would work, all it needed was a battery. Well, I installed a new battery, pulled the rear brake level, pushed the start button, and all that happened was it started clicking. It doesn't even try to turn over. What are my options to look at here to try to fix this?
Thanks for the help!
Chad

It would seem that the top stud has been replaced with a larger one. Either the threads were torn out or some other problem damaged the original. You need to remove it to see what you have in the way of a hole. To remove the stud, take two nuts, thread them on and tighten them together. Then you can use one to remove the stud[unless some idiot epoxied it in there]. If the boss[hole is not too big, a heli-coil threaded insert can be installed. It might be a 6mm X 1.

The clicking you hear is the starter relay, so the system up to the relay is probably good.[you did charge the battery and get the screws nice and tight with a wrench, right?] At this point, it's probably easiest to remove the starter motor and test it by using sm. jumper cables to the battery terminals.

Check the voltage in the battery before you remove anything! You do not have to remove the starter to check the starting system. Follow the trouble shooting guide in the manual for the condition you have.

I was able to remove the top stud and replace it with one that doesn't have the thicker middle. It is now attached. I have a new battery and the charger says it is fully charged. I did notice that the female end of the 6 pin wiring harness by the battery has some loose and corroded wires. Could this be the issue causing the clicking noise? Could I just cut the wires and replace both ends with the new 6 pin connector....from maybe Radio Shack? I looked on a few websites to buy parts, and only saw the whole wiring harass for sale.

Update:
I cut the wires and bought a new harnass. This did not solve the clicking noise. So, I replaced the starter with an old one I had in a parts box. I checked the starter on the table before I installed it, and it worked fine. I put the starter on the motor and hooked things up. I used the electric start and it turned over a couple of times, but would not start it. I checked the battery and it was 100% full and 12.4V. On the 4th try, I got the clicking noise again. Could I have burned out the starter? I only tried 4 times, for about 3 secs each. I rechecked the battery and was still at 100% and 12.4v. Do I need to do something differently before I go buy a new starter? This thing is haunting me.

Update:
I installed my 3rd starter motor and it now works. The 2 previous starters that I put on and burned out must have been bad.