Starting / Starter issue
 

So for a while now my bike has made a kinda of crunching noise when starting.
It really sounded like the teeth not mating together.
Occasionally the starter whould wind without engaging anything then eventually catch and turn the bike over.
Well last night it decided not to catch anything.
When I press the starter it just whines.
I layed down and put my hand on the starter motor, and it is deffinately spinning but not engaging anything.
Anyone have any ideas what has gone wrong?
Someone suggested starter clutch.
huh?

Don't forget that the starter gear is always engaged, no bendix like *cough* cars have. The starter drives a gear that connected to the crank through a one-way clutch. Unless there are teeth broken off one of the gears I would say it's the clutch that's hosed. Either way you'll need to pull the clutch side cover and scope it out. Order a new gasket first, and don't forget that you need to drain the coolant before removing the cover.

I'm sorry, but I believe that the starter clutch is on the left side of the engine inboard from the alternator/flywheel. Why would you need to remove the ?clutch? case cover and drain the coolant?

Duh, that was dumb of me. The VTR is the only bike I have that's like that, all others have the starter engage on the clutch side. I always forget that it's like that. Thanks for paying attention!

whew,
I was so bummed there for a minute, because I replaced my clutch two weeks ago, and I was not looking forward to taking half the engine apart again.
Or at least that half.
:)

The bike is at a friends house.
We ran the battery dead trying to figure out why the starter wasn't starting the bike. So we tried push starting it a few times, and that didn't get it done.
So my friend put the bike on a battery tender and last night I brought over my set of delta rollers. I figured that would get it done for sure. We tried for a half hour with the rollers, and it would fire. With the bike in 2nd gear you could hear thumping of the pistons but it would not fire.

Is this related or am I fighting two fronts?

I'd say you have something else going on. Are you sure that your starter is even bad at all? I'd figure out why it won't fire, then worry about the starter.

I'm with you on that.
I think they are seperate issues.
I'm going to pull the plugs, give them a good clean, and try the rollers again.
Something in the starter system is roasted, becasue I can hear, and feel the starter motor spinning, but the engine is not turning.
I looked at a parts diagram today, and I'm thinking starter clutch.
We'll see.

I took the side cover off and I can see the starter gear that attaches to the flywheel spinning so that means it's the starter clutch.

Ok, so now you are sure there is something up with your starter gear/clutch. That still doesn't explain why it wouldn't start on the rollers. Any ideas on that part yet?

No, I haven't had the time to get into it much.
Plus using the rollers takes two people.
Work slows down after this week so I'll know more and post it up then.