Hello everyone
Need some guidance with my starter. I am doing some winter maintenance and just cleaned the carb pump screen and put new fuel line. When to give it a start and I can hear the starter spin but is like not engaging to start/spin the engine.
Ideas/comments/suggestions?
Thanks again
Check the Bendix gear on the end of the starter. You will have to pull the starter off the engine and try to rotate the gear in the opposite direction it normally spins. If the gear does not easily ride away from the starter, you can try cleaning it thoroughly with brake clean and put a dab of grease back in. It may just have some gunk build up from the chain lube. If that does not help is glide smoothly up the starter shaft, then you may have to replace the Bendix.
Check out this short video to better understand how a Bendix Gear works:
The other thing to check is the voltage of the battery, and /or condition of the battery. I’ve have a dead battery, and a battery that can’t take a load have the starter act like that.
Thanks
It sounds like the bendix is not engaging (from my car experience). I will check it/clean it. The battery is fully charged and I have spark.
Will report this afternoon.
Took apart the starter, and the bendix. The area around the bendix was not terribly dirty, but used brake cleaner and now is spotless, a little lube and back together but still will not start.
I found this YouTube video with the same sound as mine.
Any other ideas?
Thanks
Mine does the same about once out of every 50 starts. Does it a couple times then fires right up. I’m only one race away from a rebuild so it’s something I was going to have my engine guy look into.
Sounds like a weak battery to me. Charge it and load test it to make sure it still has cranking amps.
Do you have a voltmeter? Check the voltage drop during a start attempt. If the battery has a full charge, that doesn’t always mean it’s good. Plus the engine doesn’t need battery for spark. Checking the voltage drop during a start attempt or as an earlier post mentioned load testing the battery well verify if the battery is truely good.
If yours is doing the same thing as in the video… its the battery
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As stated above, it’s likely the battery. The bendix is just bouncing off the flywheel, as it the battery doesn’t have enough juice to get the bendix fully engage and turn the flywheel. What you are hearing is the bendix just spinning against the back of the flywheel.
Another possibility, although unlikely, is the flywheel being loose on the crank taper. The bendix may actually be spinning the flywheel, but the flywheel in turn is just spinning on the crank and not turning the engine over. It’s easy to see if this is happening, just look at the flywheel as you press the start button.
Both issues will pretty much make the same noise. That said, it is most likely just a weak battery.
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Really does sound like a weak battery. Voltage can often look good when there isn’t a load on it, then it drops like a stone when you try to crank the motor over.
I’m assuming the motor turns free by hand?
I probably just don’t understand how these kart starters work but are they not like traditional car starters. They not only spin but the gear inside has to extend to engage the fly wheel. Could whatever it takes to push the starter gear out to engage the flywheel just not be working? Like I said in an earlier post line does that every once in a while and I always start the weekend with my freshly charged
Li-ion battery.
Has no one ever had a starter going out, where it makes the spinning sound but won’t engage the flywheel so you get under the truck and tap the starter with a hammer then try again and it starts up.
I have a volt meter; will check to see if it drop “like a stone” when I crank it. I am going to check with a new battery this weekend, and my starter makes “exactly” the same noise.
I can spin the engine with a socket wrench.
Thank you for the suggestions.
If the bendix spring is weak it could have that same symptom. Though a good battery can usually overcome an old bendix and still get it to crank. When you have a weak battery it just won’t engage the bendix quick enough and it’ll just bounce off the flywheel. You don’t see it much with IAME motors, but I’ve seen ROK motors where there will be burrs or chunks taken out of the flywheel itself; causing the same issue.
Good afternoon everybody.
Put new battery and still have the same issue measured the voltage at the starter ad is 11.38 v ( I think is not bad but please correct me if I am wrong)
What is next? New Bendix?
Tried to load a video but it will nit accept it. Will see if I can figure another way to load it.
Thank you all for the comments!
Here is the video of the starter and bendix. Apologies for the instructions in Spanish, I was asking my wife to push/release the starting button)
Thanks
That voltage is still low. Leave the battery on the charger overnight and give it a try with a full charge. It looks like it it has enough power to get the bendix to engage but not enough to turn the motor over.
Might be worth jumping it with a car battery and see if it picks up. It does seem like the bendix engages (obviously), but there’s not enough power behind it to really keep it going.
Are you using the same battery charger?
Well, charged the new battery for 4 hours and on the 3rd try it started!
Low charge?
Thanks for all the advice
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They’re pretty sensitive to voltage. It’s always a good practice to keep the battery fully charged. Hook it up to a battery tender and leave it on overnight before you want to run it. It’ll save you headaches in the future.