Not much new around here. Haven't fired up a bike for a few days due to work & rain. BMW has been having starting difficulties for a while. Starter will only spin the motor about one revolution....even with a fully charged battery. Removed the starter last winter and cleaned / lubed and checked everything...thought it was OK, but the problem persists.
Purchased a used starter via EBay today, so I'll swap it out eventually and hopefully cure the problem.
"Lamontsanford" BMW starter.
The bike will always start ("knock on wood") but sometimes under duress. It does have a manual kick starter but the high compression of the engine makes it a challenge....plus the 1974 BMW kick starters are pretty weak.
Probably won't get the starter installed in time for the weekend but I'm confident the bike will start.
Planning a ride for the Memorial Day Weekend. We'll be riding across some desolate, but beautiful Crow Indian Reservation lands along the base of the Pryor Mountains, then over to the Big Horn Canyon and Yellowtail Dam. The area is an old "stomping ground" of mine as two of my best friends lived at Ft. Smith and another at St. Xavier MT. Used to spend a lot of time getting into trouble around those parts.
Should be some fantastic photo ops this time of year since Montana is quickly turning green from the recent rains. Not sure if we're going to camp, we'll see what the weather forecast brings.
3 comments:
My R100 seems to have a weak starter but whenever I think about replacing it with one of the ND aftermarket ones, it starts working just fine. I guess what can I expect with a 30 year old starter...
I tore my starter down to the "bare bones" and cleaned / lubed everything. Thought the "fondling / bath" would make it feel better but evidently not...lol
One of the local airhead gurus (he used to own the BMW dealer here in Fairbanks, mentioned that if the bushing supporting the shaft at the nose of the starter wears down, it could allow enough movement for the armature to drag. I haven't taken mine apart to check but he indicated that it was a common problem and an easy fix.
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