I really do not believe it to be a bad starter system, everything mechanical can obviously have faults and poorly designed or assembled components, but I think the issue here with a lot of people is that they are blindly throwing parts and money by the way to a problem without actually diagnosing what is wrong. I truly think that all the solutions to each and every starting issue can be found in these threads. It just takes a logical systematic approach to sort it out. Saying this there obviously is not enough competent mechanics at dealers who can help out in this regard which may be more of a failing than the starter motors. Perhaps I should do a list of the common things that go wrong and the associated fixed in a order based list so people can check them out?
Really it is not a complicated system and has been around since 2015 and I myself seeing many bikes with 2-300 hours on original components. Nocams here has a billion hours on his 2018 already...

I'm sure there's some truth to the but I'll give a short history of his problems.

2nd day he owned it it wouldn't start with the E-start. Dealer sent him a re-flashed ECU and a new battery. I worked for about 3 weeks and started making horrible noises. The small cover was excessively worn oblong which ruined the flywheel ring gear, the small gear and overheated the starter. Dealer sold him a starter, a small cover, the small gear that drives the flywheel, the small bearings, and gaskets. It then cranked over fast but had no spark while cranking but would immediately start with the kick starter. Dealer sent him a 2019 ECU and he bought a new wiring harness. Bike ran terrible with the 2019 ECU but started for 2 days with the new harness and the old ECU. after 2 days the bolt backed out of the small helical gear and locked up the starter and overheated it. He tightened the bolt and replaced the stater with a new one. It started for one week and the bolt backed out again. He tightened the bolt with lock tight again and it sometimes starts. He bought the bike new at the end of October 2018 and it's started properly for a sum total of about 3 weeks.

I get that there's a lot of bikes out there with no problems but I read through the multiple posts on this thread and he has had nearly every problem that everyone else has had. It might be because when it won't start the owners cranks longer trying to get it to start or trying to diagnose the problem and that taxes all the wear items and they fail quickly. In other words if the starter started the bike you wouldn't wear out the starter once a week.

233 hrs now Nate. Only replaced lower steering bearing,1x sidecover grommet and a worn out switch block!
Moving parts need lube!

So if your starter has never worked for more that 3 weeks how often are you supposed to "lube" it? :confused:

Most of the time it hasn't worked it is because it had no spark while cranking. This isn't something maintenance is going to remedy... we are talking about a brand new bike that didn't start. 3 batteries, 3 ECUs, 3 starters, a wiring harness and nearly all the drive gears except the ones that were on back order and he couldn't buy. The lube is needed for the customers that get stuck with this lemon bike.

This might sound crazy but check your ignition coil wire and plug boot. You might have a weak spark that turns into a no spark while cranking because the coil wire is bad but not so bad that it won't run at all.

Just confirmed this is what has happened to mine, it's at the dealer at the moment and they are going to sort it out.

Did you get yours sorted out Eralha? Did you get it working again?

I'll check wire, other coil and sparkplug cap i already tried.

Somewhere I've seen a picture of a GG flywheel that had a different length raised section on the flywheel. This raised section triggers the impulse coil (the black part outside of the flywheel).

I'm fairly sure that some bikes also needed a flywheel change as well as a CDI change before they would estart properly. I don't remember which year of the new bikes that this applied to. Can anyone confirm this?

The dealer I'm getting my parts through wants me to send them my current flywheel and the cdi. He explained they send it to GG aus who swap the flywheel over to a machined one (window in the flywheel extended) and reflash the cdi. My bike is a '18 6 days, so it's a really early build and they were not rectified before delivery like the later '18s.
When i send mine I'll take some before and afters

Would be very nice, if u can get part numbers also, mine ise alsu 2018 beginning model.

I'll def do it. Mine is a late '17 build date, super early haha. Gotta get me a puller first, I think it's a m27 lh

My '18 XC250 is the same. Too far to take to the dealer & CBFed taking flywhee/CDI off & being without a bike
One day I might.

Does yours actually start on e-start at all? Mine won't spin cold and just spins over rapidly when hot but no fire.

My CDI is only a single punched one too....

Same puller as on the trials bikes.

If it is M27x1 LH, then it is also the same as most yamahas.

Of the top of my head it is not a left hand thread. It is not the same as the generic Yamaha 2T one. 99% sure it is a 27mm right hand thread. Send me a pm later on and I will check the garage when I get back from work.

Have a double check Nate.

I'm 99% Sure up to 2013 was 27x1.0mm LH puller - kick start only models. I think the e-start with the ring gears required the 27x.10 RH puller, and use a bolt into the crank vs a nut on the crank. 2014 onwards for sure. I'm not certain about the 2011-2013 E start models.

2011 definitely uses M27x1 LH for the puller and has a nut on the crank end.

2015 on use the 27mm x 1.0mm rh thread puller same as the trials bikes. Early ones use the generic one. Just went out to the garage to confirm. I bought a RFX branded one which is a nice bit of kit.

Yeah starts ok when warm but not from cold unless a hot day. Getting worse though as battery is nearly rooted.

I did get my e-start working. I needed new flywheel (with longer gap) and cdi remap. I had problem, when it cranked ok, but spark was weak or non existant. Now it fires up cold or hot, in gear or not doesnt matter. At the moment i have 2019 modelyear flywheel. For some reason, most of 2018 beginning bikes have this "upgrade" already done, but my bike wasnt on the badones list, maybe someone did put wrong parts at the factory, dunno.

I lol when I see "rooted" on a predominately US based forum, peeps have no idea what you're on about :D

Did you get pics of the differences?

:D Haha sorry it's not much chop anymore.

So I know I said I was going have a go at fixing my starter, but my new job prevents me from spending the time mucking around with it. Bike goes to the nearest dealer this week, they're confident they can get it working. I'll update this thread with the outcome

I dont use camera too often...Gap on flywheel was approx 31mm, on the new one, by eye, 2x longer. I'm talking about gap, what sensor reads.

Interesting, here is a picture of my flywheel. The "cutout" measures 31mm. I asked a GasGas tech about it and he said that it is "stock, and should be fine".

Attachment 8416

I assumed that it was already modified. You can see where it looks like grinding took place to elongate the "cutout" (which I assume is the sensor window). But Duster says his gap is twice that long (?).

Here is a picture from another forum. It shows a "before" and "after" picture, but the post is unclear as to which is the modified flywheel. Does anyone know the correct cutout/sensor window length?

Jeff

Attachment 8417[/COLOR]

Modified is with the longer gap, 2019 modelyear has already flywheel with this long gap from factory. If nothing helps, i can measure changed flywheel's gap, but it really was very long compared to my original. This cap lenght changes the time, that ignition coil is charged so u get strong spark with lower rpm. It starts better with kickstarter and"hillstart" also! NB u need to overflash your cdi, if u get other flywheel or u get very bad ignition timing!

My dealer talked same, that it should be fine and tried to fix my starter, gave me batteries, changed wires. Nothing helped, even new starter from bike which started with e-start didn't help my bike to start with e-start.

Thanks Duster, if you (or anyone else w/a 2019) could measure the gap, that would be great - and I will get out my grinder!

Jeff

Eralha,did you get it out? I was going to replace the bearing as it is a bit 'notchy' but spins ok.I can not get it out,soaked in penetrating oil,loads of heat but won't move.I am close to damaging the case so gave up.Any suggestions?

I made a puller which gets under the pinion but you need to use a bit of heat to get it to move.

Any update on this. Curious what the dealer did?

Sure, I think I mentioned the results in another thread. Dealer performed a CDI flash, updated flywheel and greased the starter mechanisms. Once I added a high cca lithium battery it works 95% of the time when warm, still have never got it going cold with the starter.
I have recently seen the video where they suggest welding the pinion shaft and bendix. So I might try that over summer and see if it helps.