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Tell me if this starter is bad?

coffee_brake

coffee_brake

Guest
Guest
I have a couple of "rescued" old Hondas in the stable and when a riding buddy saw his neighbor load an old bike into the truck to take to the scrap yard, he called me.

Fifteen minutes and $80 later I had what I thought was a Rebel 250 to part out on Ebay.
Well, come to find out it's a '86 Rebel 450 and it's all there: carbs, tank, exhaust, and it turns over.

I've cleaned the carbs and rigged up a battery, and here's the noise coming from the starter. Does this mean the starter's bad? I'm having a hard time finding any help with this bike, it's so rare and there's a dearth of technical know-how for it. I've never rebuilt a starter....



 
Jen I would say that if it turns the motor it's ok. It sounds a bit dry. Maybe the oil has not made it
to the gears or the grease is dried out. Bike looks clean, maybe you got an error bike.
Good job with RWTW.
Richard
 
I think the starter clutch is grenading. Now it turns the motor and then spins free.

On this model, you have to split the cases to replace the starter clutch, and they're about impossible to find.
 
One of the things you might want to do is remove the spark plugs and allow it to spin freely for a bit. At the minimum it will get oil circulating throughout the system.

To me it does sound a lot like a skidding starter clutch. These can be problematical for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is oil related. If the engine happens to have "energy conserving" oil in it, I have heard that it can cause starter clutches to skid (not grab). The outer housing (which holds the rollers) can also crack due to the wedging of the rollers to engage the crank. I have seen that before, especially with the earlier designs that only had three rollers.

Let's hope it is something external and easily replaceble. About the only way is to start peeling the onion and see what you can find.

Good luck!

Dan
 
Good info, thanks!

The mounting bolts for the starter are completely rounded off. I'm going to have to  cut 'em off to see the starter. But the starter motor housing has a lot of "hit it with a screwdriver" marks so I think maybe it's been rebuild already.

In the meantime, the starter problem sits while I chase intermittent and weak spark. Not a single coil is like this one for resistance tolerances, that I've found anyway, with the dual plug wires and all.

I'd just like to get spark and start the motor to see if it smokes or pops out of second before I drop any cash on turning it into a runner....
 
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