Starter motor whine

[garfieldus]

Hi, after being away from Oilheads for about ten years I recently bought a 2004 r1150r.

Today, I notice a whine from the started motor for about a second after starting it.

Not sure what it is. Any advice?

[sstein]

Was it after hitting the ignition button to start the engine? Or just after turning the ignition key? If the former, I have no idea. If the latter, may be the fuel pump priming for about 3 seconds.

[Photoguy]

The ABS system whines a bit as well when the brake lever is pulled- just an fyi.

[towerworker]

If the whine seems to be directly coming from the starter and only during start (no brake lever pulled to eliminate ABS if equipped) then there may be some very careful starter maintenance due. If bike has ABS you'll notice a whine from under the tank when you apply brakes. That's the iABS system pump running. If you do have ABS then we need to have an entirely additional discussion!

If you decide to pull starter for possible cleaning (not difficult) be careful as to cleaning. You want to remove some dust and grime NOT lubrication.

https://issuu.com/lord_dimos/docs/squeaking_starter

http://largiader.com/tech/valeo/ (Anton is extremely sharp!)

[garfieldus]

Thank you all for your advice.

I'm aware of the fuel pump priming and ABS sounds. This is definitely the starter. I'll pull it and have a look.

[riceburner]

Is it more of a screech AFTER the engine has caught??
If so then your clutch slave cylinder and the associated bearing may need replacing. DAMHIK.

[swamper]

I think the starter motor is needing some lubrication. One of our's after being stored outside for a long period did the same thing.

[garfieldus]

Is it more of a screech AFTER the engine has caught??
If so then your clutch slave cylinder and the associated bearing may need replacing. DAMHIK.

Yes, it's certainly AFTER the engine has caught and having released the starter button. I'd still describe it as a whine rather than a screech though.

If it is what you suggest, would holding the clutch lever in while starting give any further indication?

[riceburner]

Is it more of a screech AFTER the engine has caught??
If so then your clutch slave cylinder and the associated bearing may need replacing. DAMHIK.

Yes, it's certainly AFTER the engine has caught and having released the starter button. I'd still describe it as a whine rather than a screech though.

If it is what you suggest, would holding the clutch lever in while starting give any further indication?

Possibly - I can't remember if the rod that pushes on the clutch plate is spinning or not when the motor runs (ie when it's started up). I think that is IS - in which case you'll get the whine regardless.

In my case - the screech had been getting really bad and I eventually discovered that the push-rod had friction welded itself to the clutch plate! So it couldn't disengage, and thus was permanently spinning, and it killed the bearing at the slave cylinder. (It may have been that the slave cylinder bearing went first - thus causing the push-rod to have resistance to spinning, which in turn would have caused differential speeds between the push-rod and the clutch plate - thus causing the heat that would implement friction welding).

The screech was most likely the push-plate rotating when the spring wasn't.....

IMAG0613 by James Bridge-Butler, on Flickr

[garfieldus]

Here's a video I uploaded today....

https://youtu.be/hCeDX8bTCok

....whine is at 15 seconds.

What do you think?

[garfieldus]

Meant to say - holding the clutch in made no difference.

[garfieldus]

I decided to go ahead and pull the motor and found this....



.... I have to say, I didn't think it was too bad. I took the top off, pulled back the gear, and to my disappointment it sprung back quickly.

@riceburner, I immediately thought I had the problem you described.

I cleaned it up, lubed it and retested it here....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NegAQYVoNG4

... I could see no appreciable difference so I put it all back together and BINGO, whine gone!!!

Thanks everyone for your help.

[swamper]

That is the same look as the one we had to lube.

[garfieldus]

That is the same look as the one we had to lube.

Thanks swamper. Did your clean and lube last or did your whine reoccurr eventually?

[swamper]

It's been about one year, 6,000 miles ago. Has been working without any whine, even in 105 temps. The bike had been out in the weather for fourteen years so everything in the way off lubricant had been washed out. We restored everything, mostly lubricating moving external and internals that we felt had problems. When it was first started we had the whine, that's when we pulled and lubed the starter, has worked perfect without any whine since.

[garfieldus]

Great, thank you very much swamper.

[garfieldus]

Recently the whine in my starter came back and it was worse than before. Didn't feel like buying an original for big bucks so opted for this....

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Anlasser-Sta ... 1894928760

Cheap, I know, but if I were to get a few years from it I'd be happy. Coming from a German seller with lots of sales and 99.1% positive feedback gave me confidence in it.

Fitted it, went to start the bike and although it turned over strongly, the bike wouldn't start!!! I had taken the tank off to disconnect the battery so started to doubt myself and wondered if I had dislodged something. Tank off again and checked everything under there, checked HES with GS911, checked the sidestand switch. Checked for sparks and there were no sparks at any of the four plugs!! Checked for 12v at stick coils and I had.

After a couple of days of head-scratching and forum reading, today, I decided to remove the new starter and put the old one back in place, after all, that's the only change I made. Unbelievably (to me anyway) I now have sparks!!!

Before I contact the eBay seller, can anyone offer an explanation for this, please?

[riceburner]

Recently the whine in my starter came back and it was worse than before. Didn't feel like buying an original for big bucks so opted for this....

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Anlasser-Sta ... 1894928760

Cheap, I know, but if I were to get a few years from it I'd be happy. Coming from a German seller with lots of sales and 99.1% positive feedback gave me confidence in it.

Fitted it, went to start the bike and although it turned over strongly, the bike wouldn't start!!! I had taken the tank off to disconnect the battery so started to doubt myself and wondered if I had dislodged something. Tank off again and checked everything under there, checked HES with GS911, checked the sidestand switch. Checked for sparks and there were no sparks at any of the four plugs!! Checked for 12v at stick coils and I had.

After a couple of days of head-scratching and forum reading, today, I decided to remove the new starter and put the old one back in place, after all, that's the only change I made. Unbelievably (to me anyway) I now have sparks!!!

Before I contact the eBay seller, can anyone offer an explanation for this, please?

Maybe it's drawing too much power?

[kirby]

You did check the stop/run switch was in the run position?
Are you sure you have the right starter? part # check?

[garfieldus]

Maybe it's drawing too much power?

Yes, this is something that has been suggested to me. Anyway, it's on the way back to Germany now for replacement or refund.