Smoking starter motor....

[riceburner]

... and a distinctly pungent odour of burning plastic.

Is what you get when you neglect the cleaning out of a starter motor and try jump-starting the bike 3 times in as many hours.

Got the brakes fixed though! £500 worth of new BMW discs and pads to replace the cheap Grimeca discs and aftermarket pads, and I've got 2-finger lockup brakes again.

Sadly I had a 90,000 miles without a cleanout starter and a weak battery. So I jumped the bike to get it running again on the old fuel in the tank, and took it out for a ride (obviously I had to jump it again after getting into my gear).

Bike was running well, bit vibey, but that was beginning to smooth out, probably mostly caused by the old fuel. Pulled over to get fuel (brimmed it with high octane to help clean out the injectors), and the damned thing wouldn't start again.
Managed to get a kindly motorist to help me, and while I'm leaning over the bike hitting the starter, and it's making recalcitrant whining noises and not starting, my nose starts twitching.

The smoke coming from behind the starter motor cover convinced me!

Said 'thank you' to the kindly motorist and whipped the cover off. Jump-peg and starter motor are too hot to touch (thankfully I have asbestos fingertips!), but I couldn't see any external signs of burning, so in some way's I'm hoping it's all just internal to the starter/solenoid unit, which will hopefully be an easy replace.

Has anyone else had an issue like this? What other possible damage have I done?


I tried bump-starting the bike as well - but only succeeded in locking up the rear wheel and dropping the bloody thing.
Mind you - it's so scratched anyway I couldn't see any new damage!

[riceburner]

so - no-one else burnt out a starter motor?

Related questions for Odyssey battery users:
Do they come charged?
How long will they last between rides? (standard battery lasts roughly a month or two if not used I've found)

[Keppelj]

Mine came charged. How long they last? You mean without a trickle/tender? Mine is always on a tender over the winter when rides are seldom, but I have gone for a month without a charger and the cold bike/battery was definitely slow to turn over. Did start though.

[riceburner]

Mine came charged. How long they last? You mean without a trickle/tender? Mine is always on a tender over the winter when rides are seldom, but I have gone for a month without a charger and the cold bike/battery was definitely slow to turn over. Did start though.

Cheers for that!

Out of sheer curiosity and bloody-mindedness - does anyone know if a kickstarter assembly from an old R60 series might fit????

[duckdave]

Odyssey's come charged, but in one case for me, barely. Needed a bit of time on the charger to start the bike. Prolly had a bit of resistance in that starter that was pretty soon replaced after the battery that go round. I've had luck to push start the Beast by using 3rd (or was it 4th?) gear, but it was definitely a chore.

A friend insists that "batteries don't die, they are murdered". He's in the solar power business, so he knows his batteries. Keeps his GSA on a trickle charger all the time.

[Boxer]

A friend insists that "batteries don't die, they are murdered".

Murder sounds a little harsh Dave. I'd call it "involuntary manslaughter"...errrr....battery-slaughter.

[asphalt]

Sounds like the starter was struggling quite a bit to turn the motor over. Then when you push started it, it still didn't rotate. What gear were you in?

I would pull the plugs and try to rotate the motor just to be sure there isn't something else wrong here.

[riceburner]

Sounds like the starter was struggling quite a bit to turn the motor over. Then when you push started it, it still didn't rotate. What gear were you in?

I would pull the plugs and try to rotate the motor just to be sure there isn't something else wrong here.

I was in 2nd when push starting it. Bike had been running for about an hour beforehand so oil was warm, nothing else stopping it turning over except high compression, and the final drive not liking to send torque back up the drive train.

[riceburner]

ok - so I stripped off the battery and starter motor over the weekend.

definitely some burning plastic in the starter motor - smell was obvious even a week later.

I tried hooking up the (weak - 12.4 volts) battery directly to the motor (bridging the solenoid) and it wouldn't turn at all.

Rather than trying to strip it further I'm just going to replace it (and the battery). Now the weathers turning I could use having the bike back on the road properly.

[asphalt]

I'm glad it's just the starter. Post up when you get it out and apart.

[riceburner]

Stripped the motor and battery off a couple of weeks ago, and fitted the new Exide battery and Valeo starter motor last weekend.

Bike starting easily and took the better half out for an hour of "scream therapy" on Sunday morning.

All good! May give the bike a balance if I can before May. (first long weekend away)