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Burned out starter?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
A

Anonymous

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Last week, while trying to adjust my carbs, I think I overheated my '85 GS550L. The primary symptom is that the bike won't start. The starter struggles to turn the engine over; just like the battery is dead. This happens even if I hook the bike up to my truck battery with the truck running (motorcycle battery totally out of the system). It shows 14.5V across the terminals, but won't turn over.

Did I burn up the starter? Some of the wiring? Any chance this is an easy (cheap) fix?

Thanks,

Rob
 
Take the starter out and pull it apart. You can't hurt in now! Anyway, take some fine emery cloth and clean up those little contacts all in a circle. Then clean between them, just like you do your toes! :lol:

Put it back together with a bit of grease on either bearing surface and give it a try.
 
Your positive brush is probably worn out. If it is half the length of your negative brush you won't even need to bother measuring it. It will be the problem.

Steve
 
I got the starter out (what a battle) and have it torn apart.

Sure enough, the positive brush is shorter than the neg. one; but it seems like it should still be making good contact. How can I tell if it is long enough?

What is a good source for new brushes? Any options beyond the dealer?

Thanks,

Rob
 
It you think you really overheated it, the starter may have lost some solder. :?:

If you bring it to your local auto starter/alternator shop. They will test it, and let you know what it needs, and repair it if you wish.

I did mine last year after 22 years, and it was the best $50 I ever spent. :P A small price to pay, new starters are in the $400 dollar range I believe.

Andre
 
Great site daveo Thanks!

Ok, I've cleaned up the starter a bit, and have reassembled it. I would like to bench test it before throwing everything back together; only to find out I did something stupid way back.

I used heavy jumper cables to hook the starter up to the battery on my truck; and all I get is some sparks. Am I testing it wrong, or have I assembled it wrong?

I did all the continuity tests described in Dan's Motorcycle (www.dansmc.com) guide; anything else I can check?

Thanks,

Rob
 
dbelectrical.com

dbelectrical.com

I found a site a while back that sells both new and remanufactured starters for our bikes. The "reman" units go for about $179 and I would think would be as good as a new one. The website is www.dbelectrical.com :o
 
Rob, try loosing the two screws that hold it all together. When I rebuilt mine I had the same problem and loosened those screws just a little and it worked fine.
 
I got it all back together and it seems to be working. All I really did was clean off the commutator. From all the information, it looks like my brushes are borderline, and will likely continue arcing. In a few weeks, it will probably be dirty again, and by that time, I'll have my new brushes.

Thanks for all the help and the good links.

That site with all the brushes & rebuild kits doesn't list my bike explicitly ('85 GS550L). I'm pretty sure they have one there that will work. Does anyone have any information to confirm?

Thanks again,

Rob
 
Rob if you go to this page of the web site it has a listing for 83 and up gs550 so I am pretty sure you can use that one. http://www.cyclewareables.com/pages/street_startermotor_repair_kits/startmtrkit.htm here is a picture of the brush plate set that they recommend for you bike, does yours look like this?
cwndL_%20brush_%20plate.gif
 
Thanks for pointing that out. Somehow I had missed it...

They have a listing for 80-82 2-brush and an 80-82 4-brush; but somehow I didn't see the 83 & up.

That is the one I had settled on, I was only unsure about the -L or -R. And of course, since I'm only getting brushes, it doesn't really matter. Although, the CWB-4 model number they list doesn't show up in their pics of brushes. The 70-107 looks right, but from that page they are all $21 instead of $14.

I'm sure a phone call will work everything out.

Thanks again for opening my eyes...

Rob
 
You'll need to take the parts to a starter shop to have the negative brush spot welded. They should be willing to do that for 10 bucks or so if you really feel the need to change it but I wouldn't bother. The positive brush is really easy to change with a knife to hold the spring back.

Steve
 
Thanks for the pointer.

I'll admit that I didn't look super close, (and I'm not going to take the bike apart just to peek) but mine didn't look spot welded. It looked like the wire was just pinched under a bent-over piece of metal....

Thanks,

Rob
 
If you get just the brushes you'll see what srivett means, I ordered brushes from that company and the positive brush doesn't have a pig tail (the screw part) I think that has to be welded, as well as the negative (the won crimped on) if I don't have that backwards, since the bent part will most likely break. I didn't even think to take it to a rebuild shop but probably will now. I put a parts bike starter in for now, but it still only fires after I let off the starter, I'm usually bump starting it now
 
Starter

Starter

Do all there bikes have the same starter motor, mines a 78 gs400 and the motor looks the same to even the biggest gs bikes, i need new brushes and im wondring if lets say a 450 or 750 starter motor would work
 
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