Good morning All.
Recently bought a 94 VF750C and have been getting it up to scratch with sundry repairs and servicing. ie new battery, regulator plugs etc etc.
The bike was stored and unused for 4 years, albeit, it was under cover and in a dry climate.
My question is this...ref the starter motor clutch unit. Can the units components tend to become sticky and reluctant to function if stood for such a long time..? ie the rollers within the unit stick and fail to engage correctly.
The symptoms I am getting are as follows....If the bike is left standing for, say more than 6 hours.... on the initial press of the starter button there is a clunking sound from the starter clutch area. On the 2nd or third press of the button it starts ok. If the bike is then used on and off during the day it starts perfectly. Problem occurs only after its been stood for some time...like I said in excess of say 6 to 8 hours.
Electrically the starter system is all ok...new battery, regulator, starter motor serviced, all connections are good, earth connections all good...in fact I have added an extra earth lead between engine/frame/battery. Have fitted a heavy duty isolating switch in the battery positive line as a matter of course. ( I do that to all my bikes as a safety precaution so the only live wire when the bike is standing idle is from the battery positive to the isolating switch itself.) So the battery is not being drained at all.
So reverting back to the starter clutch unit..have had no experience of working on these units but studying the design and operating principle I'm going to hazard a guess that the units rollers or maybe springs are causing the problem. Before I remove the cover to examine the unit I just wanted to know if you chaps think my theory sounds reasonable.
I am actually a motor car mechanic, but like I said have had no dealings with this type of starter clutch before. Any thoughts you may have regarding the problem would be greatly appreciated.
On the road the bike is driving beautifully...am very impressed with it.
Regards to all...Connor.
PS....On the off chance that I had purchased a dodgy battery I slaved in another battery which is known to be good. That intitial cold start symptom was exactly the same. Am pretty confident that the problem is not electrically related....( Sorry for the length of this post folks )
Your thinking is along the same lines I am also thinking. I dont have any info for ya but would say GO FOR IT!
Connor;
I'm with Greg...
You may want to look through the post I started with the subject of "Starter / Starting issue"
Here is a quote from that thread...
Quote from: hootmon on September 09, 2008, 12:15:44 PM
I found this video for a "starter clutch repair" on a V-65 on another forum.. It's pretty good considering there is not audio, but does have text info thoughout the process
Does it seem close to the process for the Gen 3 as well???
If we can get permission, can we put it up on Tips and Tricks????
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7272590578350336971 (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7272590578350336971)
It came off http://v4hondabbs.com/index.php?topic=29592.0 (http://v4hondabbs.com/index.php?topic=29592.0)
Thankyou for replying gents...much appreciated. The video was very good...Connor