I've been working on this one awhile now...need a little input from y'all please...
1981 GL1100 Interstate - I'm the third owner, picked it up from the 2nd in August, he had the motor rebuilt in May 2012 - here's the scoop on what happened since the starter quit originally...
So I got a starter and put it in. It worked fine when I first installed it last night but today it got very sluggish and then quit. I pulled it and made sure it was fitted properly, and that the gear was properly seated in the starter chain, etc. It was fine from that perspective, the solenoid was working (tested with the multimeter) and the voltage was right. Then I noticed that the starter was trying to turn, but there is something stopping it from doing so, like the chain is bound up or something inside the motor…So I pulled the starter again and felt around in the housing, down at the bottom there were a couple of metal fragments, almost like something old broke or something. Not a pile of metal or big chunks, but about the size of the head of a pin and a bit larger. Maybe 3 or 4 of them. A very experienced friend of mine who had his motor rebuilt has reported finding crumbs of metal in his rebuilt engine, so he's not convinced it's directly related, but anyway...
So I put it back together and it’s all fitting right, etc. but it’s not turning. Drawing a lot of power but not able to turn. Since I know the motor is working it’s gotta be something else, and I’m afraid of what that might be….
What I’ve read seems to indicate that I may have to have the motor pulled to get in there, which looks pretty likely if that’s what needs to be done, I can’t see any other way to do it – before I suck it up and go spend more than half of what I paid for the thing in labor I figured I’d ask if you had any perspective – no problem if not. I can still ride it if I push start it so I guess that’s something at least, unless that’s just a bad idea.
Anyway, that’s the latest, it’s running great even with the latest issue, once I start it it isn’t making any strange noises or vibrations or behaving badly in any way.
Hope you get some saddle time this weekend, and take care, ride safe.
Update...yesterday:
Well, I've put in a new solenoid, no dice. Swapped the starter, no dice. When I had the starter out I tried a test my neighbor told me about - he rides bmws. I tried to turn the chain by hand by pulling on it with pliers. Couldn't budge it. He came by and said that it may be a bad starter clutch gear or bushings, which after looking at the manual must be accessed by taking the rear cover off the motor.
Not sure what I should do with it, I'm going to keep push starting it for now - and I'll look into finding a way to keep looking at it.
The voltage numbers are all correct when I test the battery, the solenoid, and the starter lead. I know from the bench test the starter works, the old one does not. I put the new one back in.
Maybe I can find a way to try to free the chain up without all that rigamarole, ill keep at it. Thanks again,
Chris
:cheeky:
1981 GL1100 Interstate - I'm the third owner, picked it up from the 2nd in August, he had the motor rebuilt in May 2012 - here's the scoop on what happened since the starter quit originally...
So I got a starter and put it in. It worked fine when I first installed it last night but today it got very sluggish and then quit. I pulled it and made sure it was fitted properly, and that the gear was properly seated in the starter chain, etc. It was fine from that perspective, the solenoid was working (tested with the multimeter) and the voltage was right. Then I noticed that the starter was trying to turn, but there is something stopping it from doing so, like the chain is bound up or something inside the motor…So I pulled the starter again and felt around in the housing, down at the bottom there were a couple of metal fragments, almost like something old broke or something. Not a pile of metal or big chunks, but about the size of the head of a pin and a bit larger. Maybe 3 or 4 of them. A very experienced friend of mine who had his motor rebuilt has reported finding crumbs of metal in his rebuilt engine, so he's not convinced it's directly related, but anyway...
So I put it back together and it’s all fitting right, etc. but it’s not turning. Drawing a lot of power but not able to turn. Since I know the motor is working it’s gotta be something else, and I’m afraid of what that might be….
What I’ve read seems to indicate that I may have to have the motor pulled to get in there, which looks pretty likely if that’s what needs to be done, I can’t see any other way to do it – before I suck it up and go spend more than half of what I paid for the thing in labor I figured I’d ask if you had any perspective – no problem if not. I can still ride it if I push start it so I guess that’s something at least, unless that’s just a bad idea.
Anyway, that’s the latest, it’s running great even with the latest issue, once I start it it isn’t making any strange noises or vibrations or behaving badly in any way.
Hope you get some saddle time this weekend, and take care, ride safe.
Update...yesterday:
Well, I've put in a new solenoid, no dice. Swapped the starter, no dice. When I had the starter out I tried a test my neighbor told me about - he rides bmws. I tried to turn the chain by hand by pulling on it with pliers. Couldn't budge it. He came by and said that it may be a bad starter clutch gear or bushings, which after looking at the manual must be accessed by taking the rear cover off the motor.
Not sure what I should do with it, I'm going to keep push starting it for now - and I'll look into finding a way to keep looking at it.
The voltage numbers are all correct when I test the battery, the solenoid, and the starter lead. I know from the bench test the starter works, the old one does not. I put the new one back in.
Maybe I can find a way to try to free the chain up without all that rigamarole, ill keep at it. Thanks again,
Chris
:cheeky: