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?

 

[Guest]

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

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

 

[gearhead13]

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

Any bikes carbs will leak if not maintained, you need to pull the carbs and rebuild them with new o-rings from Mr. Barr http://cycleorings.com/order.html
The rubber parts (o-rings) get very hard and leak after 20-30 years and need to be replaced. The carbs should be completely disasembled and dipped.

 

[mike_of_bbg]

i got an 81 gs550, and for all i know it hasnt been riden in years

are these bikes notorious for leaky float bowls? thansk -sam

When the bike hasn't been ridden in years, probably.

Is there a fuel filter after the tank? Rust in there? It doesn't take much to stop the float needle from seating. Sounds like a carb teardown and rebuild to me with new o-rings. Seen BikeCliff's site yet?

 

[Noxi]

yah that would make sense, the tank is spotless inside but we stripped the carbs and sent them through the parts washer which is notorious for ruining orings.

 

[Noxi]

could that cause the two outside cylinders to not have fire? or could this possibly be a timing issue...

 

[mike_of_bbg]

You could have fuel blockage in the carbs on both outboard cylinders. It's highly suspicious though that it's both outers as the inner and outer cylinders share coils. I'd look for spark first. Run it for a few, see if the outboard plugs are wet with gas - if they're getting gas but not spark they should be. Then clean them up, lay the plugs up against the chassis to ground them (plugged in of course) and look for juicy spark.