A few years ago, when cranking the engine, gas (petro) spewed out of the crankcase breather like a volcano. The cylinders were not hyro-locked, but the crankcase filled with gas. Subsequently, I installed a shut-off lever on the fuel line from the tank to the carbs. Now whenever I finish riding I turn off the lever.
If indeed the problem is the starter motor itself, it sounds like I have 2 options: (1) replace the starter motor with a new one or (2) rebuild the current one. For those of you who have experienced a defective starter motor, is the cost of a new one worth the time & effort of a rebuild? Thank you.
Mine just needed new brushes (to replace the corroded 12v stud ) the commutator was ok , if this is worn or the windings in the starter are broken then new is probably better. You won’t know which is which until the starter is examined. You don’t say what mileage the bike has ? This may help armchair enthusiasts more ie higher miles likely means more wear
The engine has 16,500 miles which is obviously low for a 32 year-old bike. Also, it has always been garaged & virtually never ridden in wet weather (I live in area of the west coast of the U.S. with little rainfall).
That doesn’t sound high enough for wear & tear problems on the starter , mine was over 30k miles when I replaced the brushes. Probably best pulling it out of the crank case if you’ve verified you can rotate the engine ok ie it’s not locked up. You can then bench test the starter with jumpleads & a battery to see if it spins without load & get easier access to the brushes /commutator to eyeball them for issues, measure windings for breaks /resistance checks or take it to an auto electrician to check it.
Although the fuel pump setup shouldn't allow it to, there is a chance that fuel could feed back to the carbs when stopped on my Monster and therefore if the carb float valves leaked it could lead to this situation plus, having split-single carbs, the downdraft carb to the horizontal cylinder would overflow directly into the cylinder. I didn't want a manual shut-off valve as I'd likely forget to use it therefore negating any benefit so, I fitted an electric fuel shut-off valve to the fuel line. It opens when powered by the ignition and in the event of failure it has a manual open lever to be able to run the bike.
Agreed, my 916 has 54,000 miles on it with the original starter motor and never had any bother with it (or the solenoid). Luck of course plays into it and failures can happen earlier but seems unlikely at 16,500 miles.
Ive just done a starter on a hyper with relatively low mileage so they can fail. Motor was very stiff to turn when removed.
Your info says Oregon, so it might be good to ask the 'parts supplier' question on the US forum. I expect that (the excellent) Stein-Dinse parts could be a bit expensive for you, especially nowadays.
