Did I fry my starter!

Energy One

08ridgid

Active Member
Riding season has begun in the upper Midwest, so I washed my chopper and FINALLY got a chance to take it out. After it started I could hear a definite scraping sound! I rolled the bike outside and was looking for the cause, it sounded to be coming from the rear cylinder area. The the bike coughed and died out, as I looked at my controls I could see the starter switch had stuck! So my starter was engaged the whole 2-3 minutes! Shit. So I pushed back into the garage and put the bike on the tender hoping this morning my new Tomiko (sp) would get fully charged.
Ok Brothers what should I take apart first to look for damage?
 

BigDogBro1

Made in the USA
Well what answer do you want to hear?

Hard to say it's alright.

Does the starter engage when you turn on the KEY?

Is it EFI?

If it is...Does the starter engage when you turn on the key then press RUN button before pressing START?

For the amount of time it takes, I would remove ths primary cover and inspect the clutch basket and starter gear for engagement problems and pull the sparkplugs out and spin the engine over a few times to check it out.

or just pull the sparkplugs out and spin the engine over a few times to check it out.

I would investigate the START button problem regardless. Possible sharp edge in the controls housing caught the rubberized START button cover at an angle and kept in down. Broken circuit board? Water contamination in START dome switch causing a short. Check it out though.
 
Last edited:

Diesel Dan

Well-Known Member
Well what answer do you want to hear?

Hard to say it's alright.

Does the starter engage when you turn on the KEY?

Is it EFI?

If it is...Does the starter engage when you turn on the key then press RUN button before pressing START?

For the amount of time it takes, I would remove ths primary cover and inspect the clutch basket and starter gear for engagement problems and pull the sparkplugs out and spin the engine over a few times to check it out.

or just pull the sparkplugs out and spin the engine over a few times to check it out.

I would investigate the START button problem regardless. Possible sharp edge in the controls housing caught the rubberized START button cover at an angle and kept in down. Broken circuit board? Water contamination in START dome switch causing a short. Check it out though.
This is good advice,Great place to start from!!!!!!!!!!:up: ALSO stick your head down by the starter,if it smells all stinky,its burnt up then,Wild Steed WorX can do a nice rebuild for ya at a good price!!!!!!!:) Also I would check battery cable's and make sure they didnt get cooked as well!!!!!
 

08ridgid

Active Member
Thanks for the quick responses. I took off the spark plug cables and the bike was able to crank over like normal. I also checked out my switches (I do not have BD controls) and they seemed normal too.

Isn't there a kick out gear on the starter so that when the engine is running the starter gets disengaged?
 

08ridgid

Active Member
Well I took the Dog out and it started right up no problems this time. No extra noise either. I went out and rode for an hour, no issues either. Seems strange that this would happen, I mean with the starter button (PM controls) getting stuck like that but I guess these things can happen. I'm definitely going to have wild stead worx rebuild my starter this Winter!

Thanks to the members that gave input!
 

Diesel Dan

Well-Known Member
you still might wanna take the Primary cover off and inspect the starter drive gear,and also Inspect the clutch basket,something got hung up somewhere for a reason.....Curtis at WSW will do a great rebuild on the starter.......Good luck buddy..........
 

Th3InfamousI

Administrator
Staff member
If your starter was stuck turning for 2 minutes you would hear more than scraping. NO WAY you wouldn't know exactly whats going on. It happened to me a starting turning is LOUD AS FUCK.
 
Top