First I want to thank Brad Smith [Travelinfjr], Don Carver, Ray Slocomb [FJRRay], George Hespe [escapefjrtist], Rich Holtmierer {Curly Joe].
My 2010 FJR [80,000 miles] was getting a little hard to start. Brad Smith had a new battery sitting on the charger so I installed that. Still had the same problem. The bike would start every time but really labor when starting. So I did all the battery leak down tests and every thing was great. Then I remembered when Brad's '03' was doing the same thing on startup. Oh damn, it's the starter.
Don Carver's only part in this story was having starter problems with his '06'. Ray sent him a replaced rebuilt starter and Don sent his bad starter to Ray, which Ray rebuilt. So Don's rebuilt starter is going into my bike. Ray was also kind enough to clean all the blue painter's tape off Don's starter.
I called Ray and he had a rebuilt start [Don's old one] in the mail to me the next morning. Thanks Ray, you saved my hide!
Then I, Mr. Shade Tree Mechanic, did what any smart man would do, call a real mechanic, "George I need help".
George came over Saturday and brought a tester to so we could be positive that it was the starter. Is a 140 amps on start up to much?
So we pulled the bike apart, really not to hard [with George there] but time consuming. Seats, gas tank, cross bar and heat shield, side covers, tool box, air box, injectors, etc all have to come off. We also took lots of pictures so that we could route everything the right way.
We took the starter apart and found that the oil ring seal had let a little oil into the starter. The oil combined with brush wear had created a nasty mess in the starter and bridged. I think that if we had the correct o-ring seals, we could have cleaned it and reinstalled it.
And, of course, priority mailed starter didn't come on Saturday so late Monday afternoon George and I attacked the bike again. Rich also showed up and a third set of hand was helpful in putting it back together. And as many have said before, the airbox was kind of a pain to put back on the injectors.
We started it up and it purred like a kitten.
I'm not really sure what I would do without my forum fiends. George, I just can't thanks you enough. Ray has a couple of rebuilt starters in stock most of the time.
My guess with the cost of a new starter and labor, this would have been a $1000 bill at a Yamaha shop.
And that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I will post some pictures of the starter when I get time.
