'83 900 S2 Starter motor

[DaveDare]

Hi Guys. Firstly thanks to all who helped out about the inlet manifold gaskets. I believe I have solved that problem...just before my starter motor went AWOL.

I had cleaned it up previously and was working fine, but I fear it has now over heated and the armature windings have expanded. It feels as if it is binding. I doubt it's just the shaft end needing lube as there was a puff of smoke eminating from the housing while I was tapping the casing to get it to wind...ouch!

Any suggestions????

Do I:

1. Source a complete replacement
2. pull it out and see if I can get a local rewinder to recondition it
3. Try and find an after market/alternative to install
4. Try and fix it

You guys are awesome thankyou, I know there is someone out there who can help.

Bloody hell where did the time go, it seems like yesterday these were the latest things on the block, not the old buggers they seem to be now.

Thanks. Dave.

[rwhc80]

Dave,

Might be worth checking the bush in the cover that the shaft runs in. I have just recently replaced mine after I found some scoring around the inner plates. Eventually I realised I had freeplay in the main shaft that was causing the armature to rub.

Cheers
Rick

[MartinMille BANNED]

Hey Dave

You gonna tell us all what the issue was with the manifolds?

As for your starter , I have heard that a starter from a GS or GXS 400 Suzuki is suppose to fit. I dont know how true that is but worth a try as there would be a few of them around by now

Just remembered the S2 starter is much smaller isn't it ? that being the case just get it re-wound there are some good re-winders around Brissy and they are not hard to find

Cheers Mate

[BEVEL DAVE]

900S2 has the same starter as Darmah. Mille are different.
You can rebuild them easily, brushes are common Holden ones & the armature can usually be repaired.
Make sure the magnets have not come loose, that stuffs them.

If you get stuck PM me.

Dave.

[DaveDare]

Hey there again everyone.

The starter was stuffed. had it replaced with a recon from Road N Race in NSW. Starter is all good.

Finally started to see if I had set the manifold gaskets corectly, but no good on the rear cylinder. Again. Bloody hell, how hard can it be.

I have resigned myself to getting some aluminum ones, but now need to clean up the gasket goo. Any ideas on the best way to clean off the goo withour disturbing the flat surface?

Cheers dave.

[MartinMille BANNED]

CRC Carby Cleaner works great after you get most of it of with a blade

[DaveDare]

Hello there guys. I'm still here. Had some success for a while.

I realised the vacuum plug was not sealing correctly on the rear cylinder and that was causing the popping etc.

Sorted that and cleaned up the inlet manifold gaskets and mounted (gingerly).

Tuned the carbs using the plug out technique. All seemed AOK bike idles at around 1700rpm which I'm comfortable with. Idled very well by the way. Also ran exceptionally well.

Took the bike for a long (100klms) run. All good. Ran the bike on some short runs for a few days then took it for a long 2 hour run. Arriving back home it started to faulter.

I let it cool for a few hours and restarted. Ran like dog doodie. popped and banged again. I pulled the front plug and the spark was erratic all around the base of electrode. Again the plug seemed rooted.

Changed plugs and ran it for a couple of Klms and it ran OK again.

Now the original issue was with the front plug. The new issue is still with the front plug. I am not ruling out that I have not installed the new gasket correctly (again) but surely it couldn't be this difficult. Which makes me think something else is at foot.

Could there be an issue with the carby...too lean? How could that be. Could there be a seal or gasket issue?

It's almost like I got it almost right and it ran well for a lot longer before failing.

So here is the puzzle: New inlet manifold gaskets (hopefully tightned just enough). Bike runs well, although to get the front cylinder to idle on it's own meant winding in the idle screw pretty much all the way.

The bike runs very well but eventually has a plug that sparks around the base of the ceramic, telling me the plug has been well over heated and cracked.

Could there be an exhaust issue??? not enough baffle in the 2 into one.

I'm lost but I will not give up, I am sure it's something not too difficult.

Any suggestions (please my wife thinks I am making excuses to retire to the workshop).

Thanks...Dave::

[Lumpy]

Sticky needle and seat maybe?? That would change your float level and cause it to run lean, could also be intermitant.
I think we covered the pick up wires from memory. If they are suss they cause advance issues and hot spots.
Does each pot idle like the other when you plull the plug off one??
By the way, I rekon 1700 is a pretty high idle. I like to aim for 1000 but have been know to go a little higher if they get silly and start stalling when your the first cab off the rank at lights. Mine are kickers and holding up a lane of traffic while you put her up on the centre stand to kick her over is not a good look.
At the end of the day only 2 things can make them get hot like that....running lean or timing issues. Sounds like yours is an intermitant fault, the hardest to find. In my experience and I`ve by no means seen it all ignition/timing faults tend to be there.......all the time. Carbs can be a little more subtle.............

[machten]

Whilst you are "leaning" towards it running too lean, do you have evidence on the spark plug of that? Having brought a number of bevels back from the dead, before you even try and tune the carbs, invest 10-20 dollars and replace your choke pistons to make sure you don't leak fuel through the choke circuit. Clasic symptom of a choke circuit leak is that you can turn up your idle screw and more often your mixtute scew to zero and it will still run.