Spinning Noise When Cold Not RPM Dependent

[KnoxSwift]

I'm sure up for helping out wrenching. Sounds like your project is much like mine: Mechanicals mostly in order, body work and "bling" left to do, if I ever get a round toit.

I'll send you a PM too...I really could use good wrenching buddies. I'm to the point on my project I'm on stuff I've never did before and could use second third etc opinions.

[edbikerii]

Today, the starter (I'm pretty sure it is the starter now), did not disengage immediately after starting up, but only made the noise for a couple seconds. I just re-built the starter with an eBay brush kit (but not the bearings, as they looked & felt fine) last July, and it spins great.

Anybody got an idea why it seems to not disengage, especially in colder weather?

Thank you,

Ed

[SIR tricky]

Probably the starter clutch is sticky, replace a quart of engine oil with seafoam and run for a couple of hundred miles. Change oil and filter that should clean it out.

[edbikerii]

Thanks Tricky,

I put in a pint of Marvel Mystery Oil about 100 miles ago. It seems to have helped with the starter clutch engagement problem, but now I've got this disengagement problem! I've never used Seafoam in the engine oil. Do you think it might be better than MMO for this particular issue?

Thank you,

Ed

Probably the starter clutch is sticky, replace a quart of engine oil with seafoam and run for a couple of hundred miles. Change oil and filter that should clean it out.

[SIR tricky]

In a word.... yes

I use MMO but just in the gas

The seafoam mixed with the oil will loosen up a lot of the grunge that has accumulated in the engine.

[bs175dths]

Don’t disregard the starter solenoid. If its contacts are pitted, when you release the starter button, it may still pass a small amount of current (not enough to spin to engage) but just enough to spin the starter motor. You will experience the same effect with a battery on its way out. The weak battery will cause the starter to spin, but not engage and then ‘clunk’ as it returns home.
Just another avenue.
I’d start with the oil additive as it is the easiest and then explore other possibilities.

BTW, read the Seafoam can. It can be used in both gasoline and oil. Just follow the directions.

-Ride On

[PanMan75]

I use seafoam as a fuel additive in both my bikes and they run better each time..I will use it as an oil additive pending ed's out come..... :-SS

[edbikerii]

Thanks, I'll look at the solenoid. That's a great lead. I just replaced the battery with a DEKA ETX18L, so I suspect it is not the battery. I've been meaning to get into that bundle of wires and electrical tape since I got the bike, so this is a nice excuse. All I've done there so far was to replace the dog-bone with a blade-type fuse holder.

I've used Seafoam in the fuel when I first acquired the bike, and it worked wonders. The bike was very sluggish. I put the Seafoam into the tank, and after riding for about an hour, the bike just suddenly cleared out the gunk from the jets and took off! I think I actually lifted the front wheel off the ground!

Turned out I had other carb problems (chrome CV chamber covers were wrong size, or from a different bike), but the Seafoam really cleaned up idle & just-off-idle performance.

Thanks,

Ed

Don’t disregard the starter solenoid. If its contacts are pitted, when you release the starter button, it may still pass a small amount of current (not enough to spin to engage) but just enough to spin the starter motor. You will experience the same effect with a battery on its way out. The weak battery will cause the starter to spin, but not engage and then ‘clunk’ as it returns home.
Just another avenue.
I’d start with the oil additive as it is the easiest and then explore other possibilities.

BTW, read the Seafoam can. It can be used in both gasoline and oil. Just follow the directions.

-Ride On

[robdavspa]

I INSTALLED A PAIR OF CHROME CV COVERS BUT TOOK THEM OFF. THEY ARE AFTERMARKET ITEMS AND ARE THIN. LOOKED GOOD THOUGH.
BOB

[edbikerii]

Yeah Rob, I took mine off, bought stock replacements from Whitey, and threw the cheap chrome ones in the trash. Bike ran much better then.

I INSTALLED A PAIR OF CHROME CV COVERS BUT TOOK THEM OFF. THEY ARE AFTERMARKET ITEMS AND ARE THIN. LOOKED GOOD THOUGH.
BOB

[edbikerii]

Had'er out this morning. Didn't notice the problem at all. Might be just because it was nearly 70F today, though. Or maybe the Marvel Mystery Oil is working. Either way, she ran like a dream today, even in bumper-to-bumper NYC traffic!

[bs175dths]

Maybe she WANTED you to remove her 'chrome earrings' because they were not her thing. (some females don't like the attention) To get your attention she had to 'whine' about it. Since you have removed them and thrown them in the trash, she knows you will not make her wear them again and she is a happy camper. :d

-Ride On

[edbikerii]

Haha! Yeah, girls are temperamental sometimes. Hondas not so much, though. When they "whine" it is usually because somebody did something dumb to them (poor maintenance, crappy parts, bad wrenching).

This bike had a Previous Owner in her past who had no business touching any motorcycle with a wrench. I spent many hours trying to get the brakes to work right: re-building the master cylinder, caliper, replacing hoses, etc. only to find out that some PO had used a CHROME BRAKE LEVER from a different bike. The lever did not fit properly, so the PO used a grinder to try to GRIND THE CHROME BRAKE LEVER SO IT WOULD FIT. Of course, this changed the leverage of the lever somehow, and the brakes didn't work right until I replaced with an OEM lever. Who would have thought to change the LEVER to fix a soft brake? I only changed it because it was the VERY LAST PART IN THE BRAKING SYSTEM to replace or overhaul.

Honestly, I don't understand this PO. The bike wouldn't go right and it wouldn't stop right, but it had tons of chrome everywhere, flagpoles, stereo speakers all around, lights like you (well, some of you) wouldn't believe, including strobes, all sorts of extras -- but it wouldn't stop, and it wouldn't go.

Oh yeah, I also spent many, many hours (as documented in another thread here) trying to figure out the "wouldn't go" problem. I rebuilt the carbs, synched, changed plugs, plug caps, tested and re-did the wires and coils, etc. Who would have thought that the aftermarket carb covers were the cause of the problem? They were so nice and shiney and purdy and all!

Wouldn't you think that the PO who installed these items might have noticed that the slides were barely opening when a 1200cc bike couldn't out-run a Honda civic? Wouldn't he have noticed that the brakes weren't stopping the 700+ lb. bike? Wouldn't you undo such a change as soon as you rode the bike once and noticed that it wasn't working right? I don't understand these PO people.

Ed

Maybe she WANTED you to remove her 'chrome earrings' because they were not her thing. (some females don't like the attention) To get your attention she had to 'whine' about it. Since you have removed them and thrown them in the trash, she knows you will not make her wear them again and she is a happy camper. :d

-Ride On

[bs175dths]

It takes all kinds.
Myself, I like it to work correctly before ‘adding’ the unnecessary.
Case in point, I am missing one of the chrome panels which goes between the lower fairing and the head, (one on each side)
This doesn’t affect performance, it is just ‘bling’.
I purchased a pair of fairing lights (only found on the LTD) and replaced my fairing reflectors in order to be more visible to the car next to me. :d

I once offered to help a friend of a friend get his 1967 Harley-Davidson Sprint running. He bought it in a box with a rolling chassis. It was missing some minor parts (seat, headlight, fasteners) but the major players were present.
BEFORE we had even assembled the engine to see if it would work without rebuilding, HE goes out and buys a Bates style solo seat ($100+). [-X
We never got the bike to run, but the seat was neat to look at, (unless you were sitting on the bike which he often did)

I don’t try to figure it out. ~O)

[Guest]

Hi everyone,
I read your post about a strange spinning noise in engine. I have a similar noise in my 86 interstate. It only occurs in weather 40 degrees farenheight or colder.The noise sometimes starts when I first start the engine and then stops about 5 seconds later. I always bring the engine up to operating temperature before riding even to the point of bringing the cooling fan on.After riding about 1/2 mile it starts again and will not stop until I slow down to about 5 miles per hour. The intensity or volume never changes so it isn't rpm dependent. Pulling the clutch lever in doesn't change anything.The noise sounds similar to frozen throw out bearing in a car. Sometimes it will start again and sometimes it doesn't.Any ideas as to a cure would be appreciated.