Wednesday 1 February 2012

Starter Motor

My apologies to my readers who aren't interested in motorcycle maintenance, but that is what I spent the majority of the weekend doing.

Starting my bike has been intermittent, the solenoid goes, but about half the time the starter motor doesn't turn. At the end of last week I convinced myself that the problem was with the battery. On every other Japanese bike I've worked on the battery is under the front of the saddle and the back of the fuel tank. I took the saddle and tank off and couldn't find the battery, it was hiding behind one of the side fairings. I bought and fitted a brand new battery, and the starting was just as bad as before. Plymouth Battery Centre were fantastic, they weren't expensive, they put the acid in it for me (I don't like doing that) and then took the battery back and gave me a full refund when it turned out that I didn't need it.

Over the weekend I took the starter motor out. Usually as you stand of the nearside of the bike, you're looking at the back of the starter motor, and it pulls out towards you. Not on this bike, it's nose is towards you, and you have to push it away to disengage it. There's a cover over the nose of the starter that looks like it will house the mounting bolts. It doesn't, it simply pours about a teacup of engine oil into your lap when you remove it.

Anyway, the terminals on the starter were rusty, and the innards were gummed up with dust, and having cleaned and lubricated everything, the bike seems to be starting reliably.

What have I learned?

  • Plymouth Battery Centre are fantastic
  • There's nothing wrong with my battery
  • You have to take the carburettor off before you can with withdraw the starter motor.
  • It's a 3 hour job to refit the starter motor
  • The starter motor drive runs in oil, and there's an oil seal inside the starter.
  • My bikes been off the road twice in a month, and both faults were caused by corrosion.
Richard "Polish My Commutator" B

1 comment:

  1. Real motorcycles have kick starters and so much oil dripping out of them they don't corrode

    ReplyDelete