solenoid short circuit

[WVHarley]

Just a wanted to let everyone know about an issue that I had this week with my 73 gasser that may help someone out in the future. I started my cart for the first time this season, it started right up & I backed it out of my shed. When I switched it to forward it would not even make a noise. my first thought was the solenoid, but it tested out fine when I checked it with my truck battery. After messing with it a little while It seemed that I had a dead short somewhere. I went as far as pulling the starter, checking the brushes, it also checked out ok. everything was looking like I had a bad battery because it was also getting HOT & would spark when I disconnected the terminals to clean them & reconnected them. I did buy a new battery, as I hooked it up sparkes flew After checking each electrical item they all seemed ok, I happened to have an extra solenoid in the shed & thought what the he** I will change it out. reconnected the battery, no sparks & it started just fine. I have never heard of a solenoid that checked out ok when putting power to it but ended up having a short somewhere in it, has anyone else had this issue?

[dougmcp]

It was probably cracked and had moisture in it.

[WVHarley]

I know anything is possible with these things, it had very low hours on it & has been stored inside. Guess it realy doesn't matter, just thought I would thow it out there. THANKS