First post and quick question Still happy to be here

Hello this is my first post WOOT!!!!! To give a quick intro I have been riding an '85 xj700 maxim for about 3 years now. Its my first bike and I love it. However with all old bikes it has given me a spot of trouble. This I have elucidated out to be the starter clutch. Because the starter motor spins but the engine does not turn over. I am going to try the quick fix for this with Seafoam. But this leads me to two questions:

1. Where do you add the Seafoam?

2. And how much seafoam is used when performing this?

Any help is appreciated. Sorry for my noobness.

 

Doesn't matter what hole you put it in, it won't do any good.
BTW welcome, Mananhammer...........

 

Am I reading the past posts wrong? Does this fix not work anymore? Or is there a low success rate?

 

I think Wiz is saying that Seafoam is a fuel treatment and carb cleaner. Works great at cleaning your carbs but won't help at all on your starter clutch issue!

+1 Welcome.

Wish it worked on knackered electrics!

 

the best place for seafoam to work would be a bike thats sat for a long time, a bike thats had the wrong type of oil in it or one that only slips occasionally
3 springs (like ball point pens have) push 3 plungers that push 3 rollers, the seafoam should rinse out any bad stuff in the mechanism
if this is you maybe give it a shot

 

Ok well my problem seems to be that it trys to turn over the motor but then after a couple of cranks it starts to slip. The bike got some use over last summer and then it got put away. By some use i would say about 2k miles worth. If the Seafoam trick is a pipe dream at this point then I have to ask another question. Does anyone know where i can get a bible for this thing? It sounds like I may be scheduleing some surgery for my bike.

 

Mananhammer, if your starter is spinning but not engaging then I can think of one or two problems. The acuator in the starter is not engaging the drive gear but spinning in place or it is engaging but the teeth on the "flywheel" gear are missing. ie. broken

 

don't give up yet, it's worth a try
i don't know how much to use but someone here does.........help
you've got nothing to loose, splitting the cases isn't much fun but it's interesting
parts guy Chacal might have a book,i know he has everything else you might need

 

Ok well it seems perhaps I have an issue with the diagnosis of my problem. I was told that the starter clutch is the issue if the starter motor spins without turning over the engine.

The problem with the bike is simply this. I push the starter button and it trys to turn over the bike for a bit sometime 2 cranks other times 5 cranks then it spins freely.

When I looked at others that matched my issues I found the starter clutch to be the culprit. Does this sound like the case or am i chasing down a phantom problem?

 

when it slips does it sound kind of like a can of stones ?
thats what mine reminded me of

 

No like an electric drill spining.

 

well my clutch was broke in three pieces so that might have had something to do with the sound ?
best to start a new thread in the chat section for problems, fill in the kind of bike you have and location and you'll get some answers
by the way welcome aboard

 

Before you get radical, simply pull the starter and see what condition the drive gears are in.
The starter has a small set of planetary gears on the end. It would be more likely that those tiny gears might be stripped.

Once the starter is out, give it some power and see what it sounds like spinning free. You would kick yourself repeatedly if you split the cases and the starter motor was the problem. The gaskets alone will cost you over $100.
While it's out, I suggest putting some new grease on those gears and ring.

The starter drive gear spins an "idle" gear that in turn spins the gear attached to the starter clutch which spins the crankshaft via a chain.
As Polock mentioned, the starter clutch utilizes some balls and sprins to engage. If they are sticking, the clutch will slip. Seafoam will help clean the crud out of there BUT it thins the oil out and severly reduces the lubricity of the oil. IF you use seafoam in engine oil, don't run the bike long and definitely dont ride it...your guess is as good as mine how long. Run it too long and you'll score the bearings and rings, run not long enough and you don't get the crud out (if that IS actually the problem).

Confirm with absolute certainty that the starter is working before trying something else. When you have the starter out, you can see the idle gear in the hole and could probably feel how the starter clutch works by hand.

 

No ones mentioned this yet so i thought i'd throw it out there.

Low / Bad battery, i know if my machine has sat for a week or two with no tender on it, it can do this exact same thing. But works fine with a topped up battery.

Remember, just cause your battery may read 12V DC with a meter, doesn't mean it's got the amps to run a starter 100%.

 

These are all good suggestions. I am sorry if i violated any rules by posting this in here I am kinda new to this.

And thanks to Mike for his post that really explains how this whole thing works.

These are things that i am going to try. I will keep everyone updated with the progress.

 

WELCOME!!! Don't worry about where you posted. Everyone would rather just see you get your problem solved...

skillet

 

Here here Skillet! That is truly the spirit! Extra brownie points on your report card!

 

I took a good photo of my starter clutch while I was inspecting it.
http://s288.photobucket.com/albums/ll16 ... 010579.jpg

As you can see there are three heavy rollers that are spring loaded.
When assembled they wedge agains the bronze gear hub and act as a one-way drive. There are no "teeth" per-say and it's a very smooth locking engagement.

I just figured I'd post the photo while it was still fresh in my mind.