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Starter

I'm on my 3rd year with my CB 350 and the starter has never worked. I think about it sometimes, but - it is pretty easy to kick it over and that has kept me from really caring about electric start. 2 or 3 kicks when cold, always first kick when warm starting.
 
I guess the good news is I've become pretty efficient pulling the starter, tearing it down, inspecting and reinstalling it. About an hour today. Problem is I didn't really see anything terribly wrong. I reflowed the solder connections on the field coils, cleaned up the armature and scraped out (undercut?) the mica. Nothing obviously wrong, but I put it back in and it's working fine again at the moment. Just not very confident it'll last.
 
Mine did something similar so I rebuilt the stater clutch and starter. Also check the starter button for good contact. The button and contact could be corroded. When you re-built the starter did you clean the commutator up before replacing the brushes? After I did all the things I mentioned my starter turns the motor very good with no problems.
Good Luck,
Jetmech
 
Jetmech said:
Mine did something similar so I rebuilt the stater clutch and starter. Also check the starter button for good contact. The button and contact could be corroded. When you re-built the starter did you clean the commutator up before replacing the brushes? After I did all the things I mentioned my starter turns the motor very good with no problems.
Good Luck,
Jetmech
Click to expand...
When I have a starter get flakey, first thing I do is jump a car battery direct to the starter to take everything else out of the equation. When it just grunts at me and doesn't wanna spin the engine, I know exactly where the problem is! And yep, I cleaned the commutator up (again!) with scotch brite and a bit of QD electronic cleaner. It really wasn't cruddy enough that it should have been the problem, though.
 
Today, rebuilt starter decided it had enough. Solenoid clicks. That's all. Even jumping directly from the battery to starter does nothing. Voltage is fine.

I give up. Kick starter it is.

That's probably not true. I won't be able to not take it apart to see what's up. But right now I just want to fart in its general direction.
 
"Fixed it". Whacked the starter with a rubber mallet and boom. It works.

Permanently, right?
 
Sometimes I just have to swear at the thing, put my tools away and turn off the light in the garage and just ignore it for a few days.

It solves nothing, but at least I get some time to work the whole system through in my head and try to troubleshoot it.
 
Advice needed.

I took the rebuilt starter apart and discovered one of the leads to a field coil was broken. Actually it was the wire that broke. So difficult to fix.

I have my original starter. But it also had issues (obviously). I was unable to combine parts and get it working. I think the old one has field coil issues too. I note most of the protective wrap is disintegrated. Starter doesn't spin. Just gets very hot very fast. I assume it's shorting out.

Question is... Is it worth tying to rewrap the field coils? Or just bite the bullet and get one of those Ricks Motorsports starters? Not stock though.

Not sure I have a high level of confidence in picking up used starters from ebay. Even if they work, for how long?
 
I ended up ordering the aftermarket starter from Rick's Motorsports. It doesn't look stock, but on the bike it looks fine to me. Works like a champ and fit perfectly. I used the longer cable they provide since the terminal is on the other end vs stock.


Maybe I'll get more than 2-3 months out OD this one. One can only hope. Though I was starting to get the hang of kickstarting.

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