Servicing a starter motor

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Had a problem with starter motor yesterday morning. Cleaned up terminals etc but no joy so tried hitting side of starter motor with a hammer and hey presto, she started. I assume there's a problem in it therefore it's going to happen again so my question is if I remove the starter motor and wash it out with white spirit then pour fresh oil into it, will it lubricate/service it and make it better?

[lloydie]

It's a motor not an engine .
A motor is dry lol
Just pick a good one up of the bay and swap it over .
Or remove the motor and service it

[BigVeeGrin]

Image - mine's on my jobs lists as I have a very corroded item under the rubber boot.

I bookmarked this for reference as you can get in them and sort them out I believe

http://www.vtr1000.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=26048

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Thanks. If you see my fresh post above you'll see £650 for a new one is a tad steep!

[tony.mon]

They're easy to refurbish, assuming that you can get the long bolts out ok, and make careful notes of how everything fits together.
The only problem is the connection bolt that pokes out through the casing; you'll need to make one form a large headed bolt and file or grind the head to fit the square aperture inside.
It's obvious once oyu open it up.
And make sure that the bolt itself is insulated from the casing with the fibre spacers and washers so that it can't earth out.
Have a go, and save yourself £649.

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Yesterday met Kev off this forum (nice bloke)and started up the storm (to show him how beautiful it sounds) and the starter turned the engine 3 times then click click click. Hmm not good. The celunoid smoked when ignition engaged. hmm, very not good. Cleaned off the terminals on starter motor but made no difference. Gave the starter motor a good old fashioned hit with a hammer and bingo, started. Ran well all day and no smoking from celunoid. I guess it must have been the pressure from trying to turn a siezed starter motor that was making it smoke.
This morning though, flat battery Now why would that be? I did 40 miles on it yesterday so battery (which is new) should be charged. The battery has been keping its charge ok recently for weeks with no running. Rectifier is new.

[VTRDark]

celunoid

Is that like cellulite It's solenoid I wonder if it's possible to buy new starter brushes for these It might be a case of having to get a 2nd hand (not new £650 ) starter of another forum member or the bay. The battery has probably got drained from all the hard work trying to start the bike.

(:-})

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The battery should have been well charged after a 40 mile ride ( the starter prob was before the ride). I wonder though whether the smoking selanoid has fried the battery. It's a brand new battery as well

[benny hedges]

just take it apart - inspect it for cleanliness and wear & tear.
if the carbon brushes are worn, take a trip down to a Lucas autoelectrical dealer and buy the nearest thing - they are very easy to file to shape as theyre made of carbon - like hard graphite (but dont do it over the living room carpet unless you wand a night on the sofa!)
check any end bushes / bearings, check the condition of the supply insulator & bolt - replace the insulation if needed ( a bit of 8mm nylon tube will do.

if you genuinely havent a clue what to do with it, fetch it round here and i'll refurb it for a slab of caffreys

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I'm going to see how it fairs for a couple of weeks as it's only seized the once. Maybe it was a one off.

[tony.mon]

The smoke will have been from the lower end of the thick cable that runs down to the starter motor.
The cable corrodes and thins, then is incapable of taking the current, meaning that the starter motor won't turn but the cable gets very hot trying to put lots of current down too-thin a cable.

Check by feeling the cable (carefully) when this happens, and see how hot is is.

Another possibility is the bolt going through the motor's casing not being sufficiently insulated from the casing, and effectively you have a short at that point, causing an overload on the cable and relay.

Just servicing or replacing the motor won't fix the first one, but can sort the second.

IMHO it's more often the cable than the motor, so check/replace this first.

[frudd28]

hi all just a quick note, although probably most on here are aware, but starter motors off other models are the same
as part of my winter maintenance schedule i thought i'd include a starter motor clean-up/service but as a lot are the terminal was badly corroded!!!so i removed motor and tried to take apart thinking i'd just replace the bolt lol
the two long bolts was seized solid,after a night soaking in diesel,wire brush clean up and gentle heat persuasion i remove one of the bolts but the other little f*&%$r snapped
a quick look on ebay saw one advertised for vtr/cbr600/900 so looked into it
another 10 mins l8r found one off a 99 blade same part no and only 2 miles from home so saved postage all for the bargain price of £14
the ones advertised for the storm specifically seemed to be more expensive for some reason so well worth a bit of research

[tony.mon]

the two long bolts was seized solid,after a night soaking in diesel,wire brush clean up and gentle heat persuasion i remove one of the bolts but the other little f*&%$r snapped

You can grip the long bolt in vice and turn it a little bit at a time, that way you're turning it nearer to the bolt head end, instead of just turning the nut end, adn twisting the bolt along its length.
Loosens it off enough for WD40 to work in, and away you go.