engine dont turn over

[Noxi]

alright after getting the keys made for the project bike i try and start it and it wirrs, i can tell that the starter is spinning but either the starter clutch is bad or the fly wheel is messed up, do these bikes have problems with either of these? or does anyone have any experiences?

[SqDancerLynn1]

Yes starter clutch, usually on the bigger bikes

[Steve]

... do these bikes have problems with either of these? or does anyone have any experiences?

Please, please, ... GIVE US A CLUE.

Which one of "these bikes" do you have?

Experiences? Yeah, I have LOTS of experiences. Some of them even apply to motorcyles.
But, ... I presume you are asking about experiences similar to yours. Yes. If the bike has been sitting for quite a while, it's possible that the rollers in the starter clutch are stuck in their retracted position and will not engage the side of the rotor (flywheel). There is also a remote possibilty that the idler gear is misaligned and not engaging the starter.

.

[Noxi]

i got an 81 gs550, and for all i know it hasnt been riden in years, should i just get a used one and pop it in? or is there something else i should try first?

[Noxi]

does anyone have advice?

[tkent02]

Open it up and look inside, it's hard to see it clearly from here.

[Noxi]

alright... so it turns out that its not in my starter clutch, my starter itsself is turning the wrong way, on these do they ground directly to the engine? or is there a wire running to a ground? once again this is on an 81 550 thanks -sam

[Big T]

The starter ground directly to the motor. Sounds like you have a polarity issue

The positive battery cable should run from the battery to the starter solenoid. The starter cable runs from the solenoid to the starter.

Are the cables hooked up correctly???

[Noxi]

yes im fairly sure they are, and against my best judgement my buddy tried hooking them up reverse and it still spun the wrong way

[Don-lo]

wow, what's up with that? Never heard of it happening before. Time for a used starter?

[chef1366]

If you connected the battery up backwards you'd have a light show.
Is this for real???

[Don-lo]

I'm hoping he meant with the starter out of the bike

[Noxi]

yes it is for real, and i agree its pretty f-ed up

[Larry D]

Is it possible to rebuild a starter incorrectly so it would spin the opposite way ?
Perhaps someone tried to rebuild it and totally screwed it up.

[Noxi]

update

alright, an update. we figured out the starter issue im sure your all dying for an answer. when we reconected the grounds we mixed up the negative battery terminal and the positive starter solenoid terminal which made the entire system work in reverse as a "positive ground". in 5 min we had the bike running, but it runs on two cylinders (inside cylnd.) and leaks gas out the airbox are these bikes notorious for leaky float bowls? thansk -sam