Kawasaki Vulcan800 starter spins

[Kawamad]

Hi my daughters partner has got a problem with his Vulcan 800.

When you hit the start button the starter spins but does not engage to start the bike.We have had the clutch cover off and you can see the starter spin along with the torque limiter but the starter clutch does not engage with the flywheel.Now is this just a case of replacing a duff starter clutch,[which is a bit of a palaver] or could it be something we may have overlooked. The fact the starter spins i am assuming the bike is receiving enough electrical power to get everything moving.

BTW it has a new fully charged battery and the starter motor has been checked in a workshop to be working fine.

regards

Kawamad

[Tango]

Maybe the sprag clutch is duff......you should be able to turn it one way freely, but the opposite way will engage......

[Kawamad]

And the sprag clutch would be were? on the starter clutch or the starter motor?

Never heard that term before.

thanks for replying so quick

[Tango]

Sometimes also called the one-way clutch.......part number 13194 in this schematic.....

[Stu]

Tango has your solution

Sprag or starter clutch is the same thing

[Kawamad]

Many thanks.

So basically check to see if the starter [sprag] clutch moves only one way, if it goes both ways [ooh er missus] then its toast.

[Stu]

pretty much yes

although you will need to remove it to check

[Kawamad]

Yes that's a bit of a b*@+*r

[Kawamad]

Got the starter clutch exposed, can't pull it off without a puller,but the torque limiter 39076 in Tango's diagram only moves one way..great! just what we want. Without removing the starter clutch and balancer unit i can still turn the starter clutch both ways. Does this mean it's duff or do i have to wait until i pull the unit out to check?.Stupid questions maybe but getting a new starter clutch is expensive and we need to make sure before we order.

Many thanks.

Okay addendum put the starter clutch gear wheel back on and lo and behold it turns towards the front of the bike clockwise but will not turn anti-clockwise.So i think we can assume the starter clutch is working,which leads us back to square one where the starter system is not engaging somewhere to start the bike just an spinning sound. Back to the drawing board and i will update as we discover more.

[Kawamad]

Okay quick update if you ever have this problem just spray loads of WD40 over the starter clutch to free it up and it will work. We haven't actually got the bike started yet,still putting the covers back on. But after doing the spraying it started to engage and their was definite compression.So all being well once it's all buttoned up and fluids replaced it will come to life.

[Kawamad]

Another update if anyone's still following this. Got the bike closed up and nothing same problem.After lots of poking about testing and hair pulling,it looks like it may be an intermittent electrical connection problem. Just as it got dark we managed to get it to turn over and engage.Then next time we did it nothing.We think it may be a bad earth or similar which is not allowing enough juice to flow to get the starter motor turning fast enough.

[Stu]

ok heres what to do

if you have a multimeter then check the voltage at the battery while cranking over then check the voltage at the starter motor while turning it over if there is a significant drop the fault lies within the wiring from the battery through the starter relay and to the starter

also if you have access to a car and some jump leads try jumping it off the car without the car running this will rule out your battery

[Kawamad]

Cheers will give that a go first thing.

[Kawamad]

Ok here are the results

Fully charged battery 13.24v

batter voltage when cranked over 11.62v

starter motor while cranked over -9.72v

Now to me that is a significant drop if ever there was one. S now off to check all wiring.