Sluggish starter motor

[thegrouch]

Hi,

My bike in general has issues with startup, but slowly I am getting it working. I am having issues with very slow/sluggish starter motor - I thought the battery is weak, but replaced battery and it seems that my starter motor doesn't have enough power to rotate enginge faster than "thud thud thud" (if you can imagine the sound like that). I am not sure if it should go faster to be honest...

Depresing the clutch doesn't change anything. After few rotates is speeds up a bit, but it still isn't what I would expect. Kickstarter makes it easier to run (still some issues with mixture but this is for another topic).

The starter starts always - it seems the problem isn't the swtich or relay. How to really check the starter motor for proper operation?

thanks
oscar

 

[Aleslie]

I'm having the same issue. I've swapped starters with a spare engine I had. If the battery is at full charge it will roll ok. did you ever get this sorted out?

 

[16VGTIDave]

There can be many possible causes. Obviously a weak or discharged battery. Poor electrical connections, especially the ground connection from the engine to the battery. A failing starter relay. Worn or contaminated brushes in the starter. Over heated starter...

 

[thegrouch]

Aleslie - no, I didn't solve the issue and meanwhile I sold the bike, so can't help on that. What I'd do now is to connect the starter direclty to the battery (through the fuse) with shortest & thickest possible wires and see how it goes. If it can crank the engine much faster - the issue is rather in old wires&connections. I don't know what your fuse box looks like, but mine had to be replaced becasue of fuse "clips" falling apart. You can also measure voltage directly on the starter wires and see how low the voltage drops - if you have new, good battery and you see significant drop on those wires - the issue is again in old connections or main switch etc.

This bike is a beauty in this matter - it's pretty easy to isolate issues and all of this is pure electro-mechanical stuff...