TOPIC:

About the clutch problem- what kind of oil are you running? I know that the friction modifiers in some auto oils can really mess with a starter clutch. I've had several bikes that slip, just like you mentioned, and it was due to the wrong viscosity of oil. Of course, all my experiences where in the winter, but still.

Now, when you say your switch is going bad, which do you mean? The button on the handlebars, or your solenoid?

I'm using Kawasaki synthetic oil. I changed the oil a few days after buying it but the starter was slipping occasionally from the beginning.

The handlebar switch I believe. If I tap the handle casing while holding the button down it works.

Not sure what model you've got, but on my 1979A1 it was a case of removing the LH side sub-rotor to get to the starter clutch gear wheels and reduction gear.

Just a (horrible) thought, but I was also was getting some very nasty metalic noises which I wrongly assumed was the cogs on the starter clutch gears not meshing correctly: turned out to be my starter motor eating itself.




Might be worth whipping the starter motor cover off and checking it's not the motor imploding ??

Stick with it though, you'll get there.

Cheers Tim

Yikes, that is NASTY!

No, I've not considered that. I was going to hit the starter while the side cover was off and the gears out to see if it was making any noise itself. I didn't consider it may have been the starter itself.

Is it much of an ordeal to get the starter itself out? Do I have to take the stator cover off again?

I'm sorry I'm such an idiot. I'm an electrician because I've never been mechanically inclined. Stripped screws and bolts are my legacy lol

Getting the starter motor out is easy-peasy. Two bolts for the cover, two bolts for the motor, disconnect the hot wire into the starter motor (be sure to use a thin wrench to hold the inner nut- if the shaft turns while unscrewing the outer nut, you can break an internal connection and trash the starter mother right there), slide the motor back (to the right of the bike) and pull out.

This way you can bench-test the motor AND clutch to see what's bad. Clutch is easy- the gear should spin one way, but not the other. With the motor, clamp it to a vice, hook a battery to some jumper cables, run the ground on the case and tap the positive to the stud the hot wire was screwed to.

If your handlebar switch is bad, you can replace the whole cluster or, if the casing is in good shape, just that switch. Find a cheap junk set on eBay (with an otherwise working start button) and swap out the switch.

I had a similar issue years ago with my starter clutch. Lots of "chatter" noise and no engagement.
What i found was that after years of use the locking-balls that engage the starter-clutch hub, had made a uniform pattern of very small dents on the inner surface of the clutch-drum. These dents are from repeated engagement. What i believe happens is if the mechanism doesn't immediately grab and lock, the balls simply start skipping over these tiny dents and engagement is prevented. It's the balls bouncing in and out of these dents that produces the nasty sound. I took some medium emery-cloth and carefully "dressed" the inner surface of the clutch drum. This removed most of the irregular surface and solved the problem. A better option would be to have the inner surface of the clutch-drum turned on a lathe but I would raise a caution about not removing too much of that surface. I also stretched the springs (behind the locking balls) to provide a bit more "engagement" force. That was about 10? years ago and no problems since !