starter spinning but not turning engine. HELP

[sarrebmat]

please help, after fully charging my battery (it is new and tested) my starter spins very energetically but only seems to "just catch" the engine gearing?? and every now and again it will catch and the beast will start. Sometimes even on very cold mornings (including snow and ice) one touch of the starter the bike will fire? i just cannot make any sense of the situation. Please could i trouble you very knowledgable people for an explaination.

[John]

It sounds like your starter clutch is going bad. The only way to get to it is by splitting the cases. You may be able to add some carb cleaner to the oil and run it for a while at idle, to see if the springs and rollers in the clutch will free up. If not, then you'll need to replace the sprinsg and rollers. The gear on the starter is in constant mesh with the starter clutch at all times. So that probably isn't whats slipping.

[skids]

Re: starter spinning but not turning engine. HELP

I think all three of my xs11s have done that. I'll bet that it doesn't happen with a warmed up engine, right? Once, long ago, I used full synthetic oil and it seemed to have a major affect on the starter. It whirled and klickety-klack! Sounded terrible. It can happen with high viscosity oil (dino juice) and on cold temperatures also. Don't worry about it. The symptoms will disappear if your bike is like all of mine.

Originally posted by sarrebmat
please help, after fully charging my battery (it is new and tested) my starter spins very energetically but only seems to "just catch" the engine gearing?? and every now and again it will catch and the beast will start. Sometimes even on very cold mornings (including snow and ice) one touch of the starter the bike will fire? i just cannot make any sense of the situation. Please could i trouble you very knowledgable people for an explaination.

[MAXIMAN]

A local XS guru says try a quart of Risolone. It will help the starter clutch "grab". Another trick is next time you change your oil run a pint of "Seafoam" through the crankcase before you change it. This will help cut any varnish...gum...or sludge build up on the starter clutch.

I tried all of the above with "Maxine" None of it worked and I had to split the case. When the shop mechanic got into her he found the allenheqad screws that hold the clutch assembly together had all backed off. The clutch was fine...just the screws were loose. A few new screws...several drops of locktite...and $700 later...she was good as new.

[Bubba1954]

Pick yourself up a bottle of Marvel Mystery Oil at WalMart. It comes in a 16oz. Red Bottle. Then drain out an equil amount of oil from your engine and replace with Marvel oil. Run it for a couple hundred miles and see if your clutch regains it's bite again.

The early Goldwings (4-cylinder models) all used starter clutches like our Yamahas and they have problems with the clutches when ever synthetic oils are used. Rather then tear them apart to replace the clutch, many have had great success with Marvel Mystery Oil. They swear by the stuff. The stuff is live a solvent and removes cleans varnished-up parts like clutch plates. You can also use it in your gas to clean varnish from carbs too.

Bubba

[sarrebmat]

starter probs

thanks for all the help. I had put auto oil in the beast, resulting in starter clutch slip. i flushed the engine and put in 10/40 semi synthetic and no more starting probs. thanks again for all your advice

[thumperjsa]

Very interesting and this may start up an old conversation. I use Castrol GTX 20/50 whenever I can and don't have any problems. Other people have mentioned that synthetics are bad for the clutch too.

[Ken Talbot]

Yup, it's the good old oil thread! It is a perennial topic that generates a lot of discussion over time. It always seems to come down to the observation that it not whether you're using a synthetic oil, or a semi-synthetic, or an automotive oil that matters. What matters is if there are any friction modifiers in the oil. With friction modifiers, you will get clutch slippage or starter problems because the oil is just too slippery. Without friction modifiers, you'll be fine.

How's that for getting the discussion going again?

[posthuman]

Just wanted to chime in here

I just began to have the same issues on a 12k miles XJ1100

Two things I realised from this thread

Ambient tempratures are dropping here at night, and it happens in the morning

I switched to RedLine Synthetic recently

so its Mysteryoil fix

or then

motor flush and back to regular until next summer heat

I'll keep ya posted on the fix

[posthuman]

well I got lucky, about a half cup of Rislone in the RedLine 20-50 oil fixed the problem

(added a few tablespoons to the gastank for good measure)

think ill switch oils to like.. golden spectro next, it appears RedLine is too slippery.

[posthuman]

update

this did not completely remove the issue, it still disengages occasionaly, it's mostly fixed to my satisfaction

I haven't downgraded to another oil yet.