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Has anyone experienced starter issues?? When I say this, I have had 3 broken connections between the solenoid and starter, (2) at starter (1) at Solenoid,....But that is not my issue now, its somewhere in the wiring, checked the starter relay, not it, and then pushed and moved a few of the lines into the relay, then it started again, but it only lasted for 1 flight and now it won't start again,,,Icon is suppose to be sending someone soon to figure this one out,,,,any other ideas?

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I know of another owner that had starter issues, I will ask him to weigh in.

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Yes, it's me :-(

I've had starter problems, too. On occasion, when I'm about to get going and I turn the ignition key to the "Start" position, I just hear a click but nothing else; no turning of the propeller, no noise from the engine, nothing. I repeat the process with increasing desperation only to hear, to quote Simon and Garfunkel, The Sound of Silence.

The first time this happened I was three hours away from my home airport. I called Icon and was told that my starter cable may have been the victim of "Vibration-Induced Fretting Corrosion". Icon suggested that I open the oil inspection door and feel for the starter cable. Then, gently wiggle the cable in the hope that I will shift things around sufficiently to generate the necessary electrical contact with a piece of wire that was possibly less corroded. Mind you, my plane was just under five months old at the time and had about 100 hours total time. Up until that point, I never operated it in salt water; only on land and at my local fresh-water lakes and rivers.

Wiggling does usually work, but it slows down the process. I dread the possibility of this happening while I'm on the water (which, so far, knock on composite, hasn't happened yet). I also carry a spare starter cable in the cabin at all times, just in case, lest I will get stuck far away from home base. I never replaced the cable by myself. If it comes to that, I seek a local A&P and hope he or she has experience with Rotax engines.

I love the plane, but the starter issue is my main complaint. I was told by Icon that some planes seem to be more prone to this problem than others. I had my propeller rebalanced by Icon to try to reduce the vibration as much as possible, but the problem still seems to creep up every now and then.

I'm not sure what the metals that are involved are, but I read that corroded copper still conducts fairly well when compared with corroded iron which is a terrible conductor.

I wish there was a more permanent and reliable solution to this problem. If anybody else has any words of wisdom on the subject, I would love to hear them.

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To combat the starter solenoid contactor coil lead "vibration induced fretting corrosion" (NOT the large wires, but the small one with a red faston spade connector) a small application of conductive grease will make this a non-issue. But please be careful to not be messy or over do the application it is conductive afterall. just a little bit on the spade and faston connector will be plenty. https://a.co/d/itSqQO0 if you don't want to buy that likely even some antisieze for spark plugs will likely do it to. I have only used MG 8481-1 (the stuff in the link) so your milage may vary if you use antisieze.

The large wires getting severed are due to the engine vibration causing the ring terminals to fatigue and crack (think paper clip that you over flex too many times but at small amplitude and high frequency the engine has a strong 100hz vibration typical of a 4 cylinder and 3 blade prop) I suspect the wire routing is to blame here. This is why ICON will say some have problems some don't. A minor change in routing can have a pretty large effect I can't tell you exactly how to route it unfortunately but the cable needs room to flex but not load up the ring terminals. I too have had to fix both problems over the years and was stranded for a few hours while I walked around the airport trying to find a new ring terminal for my starter cable and the crimper to crimp it.

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Hi Bret, thanks for the advise,,,,,That spad connector I have moving on and off many times, even crimped with needle nose, do you think that grease will solve my issue?? thanks again!

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Hi David, Yes it should work I’ve had good results to fixing that problem and one other problem with it

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ok.....I'm leaving for a long weekend, but will try it early next week,,,,thanks!

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Well after almost 2 months of trouble shooting, I found the issue, with phone guidance from Jimmy,
on the back side of the ignition switch there was a ground wire the disconnected,,,,after recrimping the wires, I got a turn out of the engine, weather permitting tomorrow I will try to fly it and see if it starts again once I land,,,,and I do have the conductive grease on the spade,,,!! thanks for the advice!