My starter keeps burning up the contact points???

[tom203]

I've been out of town mostly but finally went to put my new eBay starter in to replace the one that had "burned out" and discovered that it had turned itself so much inside the enclosure that it was shorting itself out - either that or it was jammed at an angle and couldn't turn. I untangled it and it starts fine. I hope I didn't damage the flywheel teeth too much.

How could this possibly happen you ask? If you can't get the starter bolts to seat in their holes then why not just leave them out? Where's the thing going to go, Detroit? I had lodged a thick piece of towel between the starter and the cover plate to hold the starter in place. It worked for quite a while . . .


I used a mirror and a flashlight to line up the starter flange with the bolt holes and got one bolt in tight this time. I couldn't find the other bolt. One's enough, eh?

When the starter engages, it puts out alot of torque- those bolts are there to resist this twisting; towels, duct tape, etc. are poor substitutes. If the bolt holes didn't line up, something is/ was wrong. Find another bolt.

[Redman]

...
............. and discovered that it had turned itself so much inside the enclosure that it was shorting itself out - either that or it was jammed at an angle and couldn't turn. I untangled it and it starts fine. I hope I didn't damage the flywheel teeth too much.

How could this possibly happen you ask? If you can't get the starter bolts to seat in their holes then why not just leave them out? Where's the thing going to go, Detroit? ....
.........
.........
.?

Yikes, if the starter motor terminal had contacted the engine case you would have known that by the cables melting and burning insullation (is no fuse in the starter motor cables). Thoise thick battery cables to the starter would turn into a toaster heater element.

Yah, those bolts are hard to get at.

I cant say if one is going to hold the starter or not. If the starter does twist a little bit it will be flexing the one bolt, and quess what the repeated flexing will do.

.

.

[MikeS]

All right all right already! I'll find another bolt . Sheesh.

How about one bolt and an extra thick piece of towel? No?

" . . . you would have known that by the cables melting and burning insullation . . ."

Now I know what that burning smell was. It's sure a good thing these bikes are tough.

I sure miss my kickstarter.

[MikeS]

"When the starter engages, it puts out alot of torque- those bolts are there to resist this twisting; towels, duct tape, etc. are poor substitutes. If the bolt holes didn't line up, something is/ was wrong. Find another bolt."

I haven't tried duct tape. How about one bolt, a thick piece of towel, and duct tape? The bolt holes line up when you slide the starter just so . . . hard to do blind. I finally got the one bolt in using a mirror and flashlight, making sure they were lined up before sticking the bolt in. The second bolt has one of the cables in the way but I'll get it in soon. The bolt that is in is quite tight so it shouldn't be flexing much if at all. But still, two is better. If it comes loose again it could fry something next time. I'm lucky I didn't this time.

I know . . . this is really sloppy mechanical work on my part.