starter hanging up

[scottie_boy]

Recently the starter will sometimes briefly hang up if the bike is completely cold and the outside temp. is cold. The bike starts fine but I can hear a brief grinding as the starter is slow to disengage.

I'm thinking its time to lube. How hard is it to get to the starter on an '04RT and what sort of lubricant should I use? Some type of special grease or a shot of WD-40?

Thanks..

[steve.foote]

Here you go:

 

http://bmwsporttouring.com/faq/docs/starter.pdf

[scottie_boy]

Thanks

[redryder]

I had the same thing on my 02RT. The starter is actually pretty easy to get off, so I did. Took it to a local starter shop to have it rebuilt. My rebuilder is pretty knowledgable when it comes to Valeo starters and the rebuild only cost $40. That was with new Bendix drive, brushes, solenoid, and polish the commutator. Of course, everything was cleaned as well. He told me that these starters hanging is more common than should be due to GREASE on the nose of the starter. He said that Valeo uses too much grease and when they are put on the bike and exposed to all the clutch dust, they start hanging up. What he does is apply a thin coat of grease, work them a few times, then wipe as much grease off as they can. He claims the drive unit doesn't need much lube, if any, and they will last much, much longer dry, than lubed. My original lasted only 46K; we'll see how this one does.

 

Certainly others will disagree with my rebuilders assesment but it makes sense to me. I do know that I don't grease/oil chains and gears on the hay baler and haybine due to excessive wear when put in all that dust. A light oiling after the season prior to winter storage is more than sufficient. Just food for thought.

 

BTW, the rebuilt, non greased starter is very smooth and quiet so far.