Starter Only engages 1/3 of the time .

[Boom Boom]

Originally Posted by Punk

Yes the main problem is the starter not engaging . It turns it over quite good once it engages but it only engages 1/2 the time . button seems to be fine so not sure what is really up. Had a tractor that had issues and it needed to be cleaned . But this doesn't even make an attempt to engage it's frustrating . I'll check all the wires maybe there is something loose or ill fitting . So anyway thanks for all the help and ideas .

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Add a thicker gasket (or 2) to the case cover.
My 2011 worked poorly, cut some new gaskets from thicker material and works fine now. Just loosen the case bolts a little and see if it works better, if yes extra gasket thickness will fix the problem.

[Neil E.]

Originally Posted by Boom Boom

Add a thicker gasket (or 2) to the case cover. My 2011 worked poorly, cut some new gaskets from thicker material and works fine now. Just loosen the case bolts a little and see if it works better, if yes extra gasket thickness will fix the problem.

How to close to 100% correct function is your starter?

[Boom Boom]

Originally Posted by Neil E.

How to close to 100% correct function is your starter?

Will not crank a cold engine (sub 30 deg outside), warm engine I am good with just a bump of the switch.
Also I removed all that white sludge they call grease and replaced with a lighter product.
To get an idea of what I needed I backed off the case bolts and used 2 feeler gauges to set the thickness. Just kept going thicker till I was happy with how it worked.
Used a common auto sheet gasket material and made 2 gaskets, all has been well since.

[Neil E.]

Do you know what the total gasket thickness was when done?

The stock gasket is .020" free (.015" compressed). Currently I am at .040" free (probably .035" compressed). This created quite large free play between the gear teeth, but didn't improve the starting as much as I expected.

[Boom Boom]

From new my starter did not work well if at all.
Someone on here advised me to add a valve shim to the bottom of the starter socket. That did nothing for me but my true problem was the starter was binding on the ring gear. I found this out because the starter stuck tight once and when I pulled everything apart I could see the tension issue.
I do not have a true measure at what my thickness is now but would be at least 3-4 stock gaskets.
Other friends with the same bike we have found a poor ground connection at the starter to be the problem and one just needed a fresh battery to throw enough energy to make it work.
The stock switch assembly I found to be crap and now have the start button being operated from a Yamaha kill switch.
I have no idea if adding that shim tappet done any good because my core problem was a binding issue.

[rgranger]

I think that I have 2 or 3 on my 2011, took a long time and one bendix to figure that out.

[rosco]

I have monkeyed with these starters quite a bit and have come up with a few ideas that seem to make them work fairly reliable. First make sure your starter is lined up with the case when mounted. By that I mean take the two bolts out of the starter that hold it to the side of the cyl. When the starter is resting in the hole on the flywheel cover you shouldn't have any gap between the starter and the cyl. bracket. If you do you can install a couple of washers to take up the gap. Next make sure that your cover is shimmed correctly. Like explained in previous post's you have to shim it out with gskts. until you have the bendix at the correct distance from the ring gear. If these are both set and the starter still doesn't engage correctly I remove the bendix and stretch the gathering spring that wraps arround the flyweights on the bendix. This spring can be seen when the bendix is in the extended position. You will have to use an o'ring pick with a curved end to pull the spring off of the weights. Be careful not to get to carried away. You just want to stretch the spring enough to relieve the pressure on the flyweights a little. This will allow the flyweights to extend a little easier and stay in the extended position until the bike starts. This has been working great for me. Hope this helps.

[SingleTrackMind]

I hate to revive an old thread but I have an issue with my starter not engaging as well. I bought the starter kit from the dealer I bought my bike from the same time I bought the bike. He did the install and it worked about 60% of the time and has gotten to about 20% now. He gave me a set of gaskets for free to set the shim but that did very little to improve my situation. I put the thin gasket on and it seemed to bind, the thick kept it from engaging at all so I just went back to the stock gasket. I also read something on this website about moving a shim. Didn't work for me but I haven't been able to find any pics anywhere.

http://support.ktm-parts.com/entries...GasGas-XC-300E

I will be pulling my starter again this weekend and make another attempt to fix it by stretching the spring as mentioned in the last post.

If anybody has any pics that would be very helpful. It's frustrating that I would have to buy another bendex for a brand new starter kit that didn't work out of the box. Definitely not fully cooked product with little warranty support.

[Neil E.]

Go easy on the spring stretching because the spring puts force on the sprags so they engage to drive the gearing. I suugest you use a pair of calipers to carefully measure the spring OD after you remove it.

Use a bottle with a long neck (wine bottle?) and roll the spring down the neck a bit at a time. Mark each spot that you stop. Remove the spring and measure the OD after each pass until you can tell it's a wee bit larger. Reassemble everything and start the bike a few times. As I understand it you only need to "just" relieve some tension. Repeat as needed.

For the starter to work right you need:
1) a known good battery (or jump from a bigger battery)
2) good quality connections, including ground path
3) free play at the ring gear (no binding)
4) a functional bendix unit

I found the easiest way to verify free play was to cam the bendix out into it's extended position and wrap it with tape (holds it out). Put the ignition cover back on (bendix installed, but no starter motor). Reach in the hole and oscillate the bendix drive gear. You can feel the play since the ring and pinion gears are engaged.

Keep in mind that if your cover needs shimming, you should also put some washers under the starter motor bolts so the motor sits correctly (matches the cover spacing).

[rgranger]

I had 3 gaskets on the 2011 before the, err, rebuild. I think that I only have 2 on it now, but I had to really ad some spacing, that is 3 "regular" gaskets, not the thinner ones that come in the kit.