What is this starter sound?

3474 Views 46 Replies 13 Participants Last post by JeffOYB, Feb 25, 2022

JeffOYB

Discussion Starter · Dec 23, 2021 (Edited)

I have a 1979 custom 12k miles runs great. Its cold now. I've been getting weird sound from my starter. The sound comes and goes. It usually comes on after like a minute of trying to start. A hard start. I got the bike this fall. Never made the sound. Once it got below freezing and I didn't ride it for weeks at a time, it would make the sound during the longer times it took to start. Once it started, the sound would go away on warm restarts. But when cold some machinery definitely changes, and there's a very different bad sort of sound after a minute or so.

[REVISING TO ADD INFO ON THE HARD START: Whew, it took like 5 minutes of cranking to start this last time. I vary all the options. Is there a standard way to hard start in the cold? I try choke out, choke in, throttled a bit, twisted a couple times, no throttle. Sometimes it starts turning over with starter still engaged then it quits when I release the button. In the warm weather it often only takes like a 1/2 second to start -- touch the button, bang. So nice.]

Can you tell me what's happening with this sound? Here's a link to the Youtube....

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Sidecar Bob

· #3 · Dec 25, 2021

What I hear sounds more like running the starter with the spark plugs out and I can't imagine what could make it sound like that with the plugs in.
It certainly doesn't sound like a bad starter clutch and nothing like what mine sounds like when I start it after it has been sitting for a few days in the winter.

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Sidecar Bob

· #11 · Dec 26, 2021

Being a US model, Jeff's headlight should be off while the Start button is pressed.

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Sidecar Bob

· #13 · Dec 27, 2021

JeffOYB said:
REVISING TO ADD INFO ON THE HARD START: Whew, it took like 5 minutes of cranking to start this last time. I vary all the options. Is there a standard way to hard start in the cold? I try choke out, choke in, throttled a bit, twisted a couple times, no throttle. Sometimes it starts turning over with starter still engaged then it quits when I release the button. In the warm weather it often only takes like a 1/2 second to start -- touch the button, bang. So nice.

Sound aside, I think the actual hard starting is mostly related to not starting it for weeks at a time. If you had a newer model with a vacuum petcock and an accelerator pump on the carbs I'd be able to tell you what to do to get it to start more easily (mine will have been sitting for 4 days when I go out tomorrow so I will whack the throttle open quickly 5 or 6 times so that the accelerator pump will squirt raw fuel into the carb throats before I touch the Start button and there are other procedures for bikes with vacuum petcocks) but I don't know anything that will help on a bike without the accelerator pump other than maybe lifting the seat and squirting some starting fluid into the air intake before cranking (I used to carry a can of that in the pocket of my snowmobile jacket when I used bikes without accelerator pumps in the winter).

I think the best advice for you would be to put it into storage until spring.

Some say to fill the tank and add stabilizer to but if you drain the tank (turn the petcock Off, disconnect the fuel line from the tank and add a foot or so of hose, turn the petcock to Reserve and let the fuel run out to a gas can and put it in your car) the water in the bottom of the tank will have a chance to evaporate before it eats its way through the steel.
It is best to start the engine and run the carbs dry, then put a container below the bottom ends of the carb drain hoses and open each drain screw for a few seconds to let the last few drops out but if you can't get it started at least drain the carbs so that there is no fuel in them to evaporate and lave behind "varnish" that will block passages.
Disconnect the battery (ALWAYS negative first and then positive) and if your storage place isn't heated remove it from the bike and put it somewhere where you can get at it. Make sure the fluid in the cells is at the upper mark (if it is below that top it up with water - distilled is best but tap water is better than nothing)(you really should check the levels and top it up occasionally when the bike is in use). If you have a battery maintainer (Battery Tender is a popular brand) connect that and leave it alone until spring. If you don't have a maintainer connect your battery charger until it shows fully charged, disconnect it and repeat every month until you are getting the bike ready for regular use in the spring.

NOTE: Chargers made for car batteries are not suitable for powersport batteries because they produce enough current to damage the smaller battery. Everyone who owns any machine that uses a powersport type battery (motorcycle, snowmobile, riding mower &c) should also have a battery charger that is suitable for charging that battery.
- If you must store it outdoors cover it up but if you use a tarp make sure you set it up so that it can breathe to let the moisture out (remember the condition of your first CX after being wrapped up in a tarp for so long).
If you are storing it inside a garage or shed just cover it with old bed sheets to keep the dust &c off.
- Once it is stored leave it alone until you are ready to start using it regularly again.

FWIW, my summer machine has been in a shed with the battery removed and the bike's tank and the carbs drained and covered with sheets for about 7 weeks now.
(It has a second fuel tank on the sidecar that is plastic so I leave it full and stabilized because any water in it it won't cause rust and if something happens to prevent me from taking it out of storage for a few years and the fuel goes bad in that tank it would be a lot easier to replace).

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Sidecar Bob

· #19 · Feb 21, 2022

Did you ever download the FSM and go through all of the maintenance procedures like I suggested when you joined the forum? If you had you should have at least an idea of basic things like how to drain the float bowls.

Leaving them full for several months (as you seem to have done) allows the fuel in them to evaporate, usually leaving a coating of varnish that can block passages and cause all sorts of other problems. If you really intend to keep your antique motorcycle running well you really need to take things like this more seriously and start learning about it before your carelessness starts causing problems that require are beyond your ability to deal with them.

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Sidecar Bob

· #21 · Feb 22, 2022

Stabilizing the fuel in the tank won't help what's already in the carbs.

READ the FSM from cover to cover. And when you are done with that go back to the beginning and start doing everything in the maintenance schedule and the chapter on maintenance.

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Sidecar Bob

· #23 · Feb 22, 2022

You got lucky this time.

Continuing to ignore the maintenance schedule now can only lead to grief later. Have you at least set the camchain tensioner adjuster?

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Sidecar Bob

· #36 · Feb 23, 2022

When I got my first motorcycle I called a childhood friend who had grown up to be a motorcycle mechanic and asked him if I could bring it to him when it needed work. He said "No. You've been working on bicycles since you were a kid so you should be able to learn how to work on motorcycles too. Get a shop manual and when something needs to be done on it sit on a box next to the bike, read the section in the book about the job and call me if you don't understand something".

I wonder if there is someone on the forum close enough to get together with you and show you some of the basics.

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Sidecar Bob

· #46 · Feb 23, 2022

There must be someone near him who can show him some of the basics.

In the meantime, go through the FSM from cover to cover before you start looking up specific procedures. You don't have to read everything in detail but you will learn a lot about things in general.

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