Starting Woes, GSX1100G

[Guest]

Well, the bike's been down a few months with starting issues... The first iteration was a whining noise and no cranking. I was able to get it started and home from work by tapping in the area of the starter lightly with a hammer while cranking.

I was able to get it started a few times since then using a rubber mallet and the same trick, just to try to keep some gas run through the carbs until I could fix it. The noise was pretty bad, but it would try to turn over a few times with the mallet whacking, then finally start up.

I took out the starter this evening, disassembled it (there was still some brush material left and it really didn't look too bad to me), put it back together, tested it by grounding it to the frame while hitting the button (seemed to spin fine), then put it back in and tried it. No start.

It now just sounds like it's spinning freely, like when I tested it out of the bike. The horrible whine is gone, but there is no attempt of the engine to turn over at all.

My next plan was to pull the cover on that side of the engine and see what I can see. But I thought I'd post here first, in case there is something obvious I'm missing...

Thanks... Mike

[steve murdoch]

Sounds like a starter clutch going south.
Plenty of threads on diagnosing and replacing.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?231925-GS1100G-starter-clutch-issues

[bsharpish]

Had a similar issue with a bandit - bolt at end of crank that retains the starter clutch assembly was loose -
you'll need a huge torque wrench as it needs loctite and about 125ft/lbs of force to tighten correctly

Allegedly - quite common on all iterations of the oil boiler engines

[Steve]

Contact Chuck Hahn, a virtual neighbor.

.

[JMHJ]

Thanks for the replies. I'll update when I find out something.

[JMHJ]

Update:

I pulled the cover a bit ago and the gears looked good. Indeed, the main bolt was loose; not enough to be able to move it by hand, but nowhere near the specified torque, and I could slide that gear back a little when the idler gear was out. I torqued it to at least 114 lb-ft (my svc manual says 113.5) and it started right up. After putting the cover back, of course.

I take it I may have skipped a step here... removing it completely and adding the Loctite. I'll have to go back to that. I'm going to go take it for a ride. Been far too little of that this season for me.

[JMHJ]

Yeehaw! Back in the saddle, and covered in grasshopper guts . It was a little rough off idle at first, but after I had it out a bit and blew out the cobwebs, it smoothed out nicely. Man that thing is a monster. I'm scared of 1st gear