RadioHowie
I Miss Beemerdons!
Oh, don't spoil things now!
Ain't this what dreamin' is all about???
Let me quote a well respected member of the forum on performing unnecessary mods: (taken COMPLETELY out of context!)
Just "blue skying" is all.
Finally replaced my starter yesterday
- Thread starter SkooterG
- Start date
Help Support Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum:
Oh, don't spoil things now!
Ain't this what dreamin' is all about???
Let me quote a well respected member of the forum on performing unnecessary mods: (taken COMPLETELY out of context!)
zorkler
Ave U !!!!
Its about time you went for the cash . Great job on the pic. someone is going to need them in the future .
radman
R.I.P. Our Motorcycling Friend
There are mods which will improve the full rpm band of the FJR. Portin' ain't one of 'em.
RadioHowie
I Miss Beemerdons!
Oh, I didn't mean porting...just polishing. Porting wouldn't make any diff unless you were pushing around 13k rpms, if memory serves, but polishing just gives the rider a warm and fuzzy feeling.
I agree with Radman here. When I had the valve guides replaced, I looked at the head with my brother. We have been doing head work for Small blocks and decided that there just was to much other things to do to make the porting and polishing worth while. We really wanted to take the head and put it on the Super Flow bench, but could not make that happen before the heads were fixed and back on the bike. We figured to really make the FJR motor scream would mean new cams, new valves(larger) and lots of flow bench testing to see what would work and fuel injectors, dyno time to get it all tuned up and probably new exhaust from header to tailpipe. Then we realized if we did do all that work, would I be able to keep from spinning tires all the time? Also decided that there was plenty of horse power already for the type of riding I do.
RadioHowie
I Miss Beemerdons!
Okay, time to turn in your "Man Card".
And the only reason you're agreeing with Rad is because he's right !
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My "Man Card" is still in good standing. Did all the stupid stuff when I was younger and now I know better. It is better to be able to ride again then to be picking up the body parts later, and I have picked up enough of others parts to last me a lifetime. And yes Rad is right.Okay, time to turn in your "Man Card".
And the only reason you're agreeing with Rad is because he's right !
fjrboomer
Well-known member
Scooter I am not wrencher but your write up with pics was so good I almost think I could now replace the starter. Great job and great result. Now just go out and ride it and enjoy it. After all, in another 35k you will have it broken in completely. Ride safe.
JamesK
Got to ride
Scooter thanks for the detailed write up, as I alluded to in Don's charging system thread, it looks like my Stater has officially taken a dump, so I'll need to be following in your footsteps to swap it out. I wasn't ready to do this yet so it seems like there are no used ones on eBay.
I found one locally that's from a Gen1 (a bike with supposedly around 22k miles on the ODO) but two questions that I need to clarify:
1. Your $90 salvage Starter looks really "clean" where as the one I've found looks really used. I'd hate to have to do all that work only to replace my busted Starter with something "iffy"
2. Is it correct to assume that the Starters are the same b/w the Gen1 & Gen2 models?
I found one locally that's from a Gen1 (a bike with supposedly around 22k miles on the ODO) but two questions that I need to clarify:
1. Your $90 salvage Starter looks really "clean" where as the one I've found looks really used. I'd hate to have to do all that work only to replace my busted Starter with something "iffy"
2. Is it correct to assume that the Starters are the same b/w the Gen1 & Gen2 models?
RossKean
Well-known member
I think I would pull the old starter and see if it could be rebuilt. Clean it up and replace brushes. Restore comutator to a new clean surface etc. Beats installing an untested used starter; especially if you can determine the point of failure for yours.
Ross
Ross
When you get the starter out, I would bench test it again with jumper cables off a car battery to see how it turns over. It's very easy to dissemble the starter to take a look see, but mark the outside parts first so you know how it goes back together. My starter was like new inside with 60k, but the narrow grooves between the commutator bars on the armature were shorted with junk. Cleaned the grooves out, polished the commutator, greased the bearings, used alligator clips to hold the brushes out away from the commutator during reassembly and walla. It's worked fine for months.
JamesK
Got to ride
Don't forget that I'm in Japan, they don't generally rebuild things like this here, because the labor costs will be much higher than the new part, that's if you can even find someone qualified and willing to do it. After 139,000 miles and given the slow but steady demise I am betting that my Starter will look similar to Scooter's.
I opted to buy a new Starter, since the only one I've found used looked too used and would have still cost around $140 - ordered the new one tonight.
How is this for ironic and freaking annoying, the Yamaha factory where they build this stuff is about 7 hours drive from my house, but the new Stater motor costs more here than you can buy it in the US, after export and shipping fees, handling fees, etc. etc. The best price I've found here is the equivalent of $390, Partshark.com sell it for $332 :huh: :blink:
I opted to buy a new Starter, since the only one I've found used looked too used and would have still cost around $140 - ordered the new one tonight.
How is this for ironic and freaking annoying, the Yamaha factory where they build this stuff is about 7 hours drive from my house, but the new Stater motor costs more here than you can buy it in the US, after export and shipping fees, handling fees, etc. etc. The best price I've found here is the equivalent of $390, Partshark.com sell it for $332 :huh: :blink:
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Thug
A shy retiring flower in a Thug's exterior
Very nice G very nice indeed!!! and no broken parts from any frustrating moments???
And Radman you still around...good to see and informative as usual.
And Radman you still around...good to see and informative as usual.
wfooshee
O, Woe is me!!
Thug??? Check the post dates from earlier in the thread????
Thug
A shy retiring flower in a Thug's exterior
Oh ****! Oops......well it still was a great write up....and I trust the Radman is still alive and kicking!!!
juniorfjr
Well-known member
Oh ****! Oops......well it still was a great write up....and I trust the Radman is still alive and kicking!!!
[/quote)
Radman, alive, yea. Kicking??????
JamesK
Got to ride
Well, I pulled out my Starter and took it apart. There was a bit of a smell but not terrible, you can see from the pics that the internal oil seal has already started leaking as there's oil in the bush area, and some inside on the sides of the case. It looks like the o-ring on the Stater color was also starting to leak. The oil sludge was also causing some of the brushes to stick, see the one at 1 o'clock in this pic is worn more than the others.
I know this was not helping the Starter's operation, likely resulting in the sluggish performance and excessive current draw?
I think I confirmed this because with the Starter in my hands I jumped it from an spare battery, with proper jumper leads and in less than 5 seconds of spinning (just) the jumper cables got very hot...
I also confirmed that my Starter Relay is toast, the relay coil operates, but the "power" contacts don't, as the Battery power is not showing up on the Starter side of the relay. I'm guessing the excessive current draw of the dying Starter burnt the Starter relay contacts. Oh well, back to the shop I go to order up a Starter relay.
As with others, my 139k mile bike's throttle bodies looked pretty dirty, but since I've been running the bike here in Japan the past two years (no Ethanol crap in the gas) maybe they are a little cleaner than they would have been back in the States. Now what to use to clean them, Parts cleaner ok?
I know this was not helping the Starter's operation, likely resulting in the sluggish performance and excessive current draw?
I think I confirmed this because with the Starter in my hands I jumped it from an spare battery, with proper jumper leads and in less than 5 seconds of spinning (just) the jumper cables got very hot...
I also confirmed that my Starter Relay is toast, the relay coil operates, but the "power" contacts don't, as the Battery power is not showing up on the Starter side of the relay. I'm guessing the excessive current draw of the dying Starter burnt the Starter relay contacts. Oh well, back to the shop I go to order up a Starter relay.
As with others, my 139k mile bike's throttle bodies looked pretty dirty, but since I've been running the bike here in Japan the past two years (no Ethanol crap in the gas) maybe they are a little cleaner than they would have been back in the States. Now what to use to clean them, Parts cleaner ok?
JamesK
Got to ride
Could someone with the know-how please comment on the valves, they don't look as clean as Scooter's but not too bad right?
ionbeam
2 FUN
Use carb cleaner.
The brushes are worn to service limit and starting to **** in the holders. The conductive material worn off the brushes is now embedded in the slots in the commutator causing current leakage.
The brushes are worn to service limit and starting to **** in the holders. The conductive material worn off the brushes is now embedded in the slots in the commutator causing current leakage.
SkooterG
Purveyor of Crooked Facts
Wow, your starter looks GREAT compared to mine. I wonder if your only problem was the relay. Your TBs, while also somewhat dirty, also not near as bad as mine. Perhaps because I ride in a dustier environment??? I used carb cleaner to clean mine, being careful. Not sure why your intake is dirtier. Photos are blurry enough I can't tell what the darks stuff is. Though they really don't look that bad.
Great photos!
Great photos!
