My KA squealed like a pig last Sunday when i pushed the start button, and it was recommended I replace the starter. I purchased one, but have never done this. Is it easy? I looked on youtube and couldn’t find anything.
I used an external starter all weekend and thought, hey, I have one of these at home I’ve never used. So i charged up the battery on it, but it’s still dead. Outside of replacing the battery, and other ideas of what could be wrong with the external starter?
I’ve replaced the brushes in a couple of mine and it isn’t a hard project. Swapping one will be easier than doing brushes.
I know nothing about KA’s, but for your external starter, trying jumping the switch by taking the wires off each side and touching them together (carefully). If it rotates, you just have a bad switch/button. We have had a few go out over the years. Not a common occurrence, but it does happen.
John, while your KA starter may be bad, it likely just needs some lube at least that is what I would translate squealing to. It may be the bendix or the motor bearings. Either way, if you lube or replace its fairly simple but you need to remove the motor from the kart and the starter goes out the magneto side. There are a few bolts holding it all in place. If you replace the starter it is recommended to rtv the brushes (I don’t know if this is done from IAME). If you lube it follow the directions in this video to disassemble the motor and reassemble it.
As for the external starter if the battery has been sitting its likely shot and charging won’t help. You can rig it up to a 12V car battery just to verify it works and if it does replace the battery with the appropriate sized one.
Internal starter replaced. Was a bit tricky getting it off, as I’ve never done it before.
External starter just needed a new battery as old one wouldn’t take a charge.