Paging the Mancunians

Just had a call from my brother.... he desperately needs help with his
VFR750.

We've been through a few checks over the phone, including me listening
to what it's doing, and my diagnosis is that his starter motor is
fucked. The bike sometimes starts, so long as there's a lot of charge in
the battery... but after a couple of stabs on the starter, it just
whirrs and doesn't start the bike.

We've checked that it's not the battery or the rectifier, so the only
thing left is a motor fault.

He's pretty desperate to do something about this - at least confirmation
that it is the motor - as his car was written off by a couple of
uninsured chavs earlier in the week and he's had to give his car to his
missus to ferry the kids around, meaning he has to have the bike working
to get to and from work.

Is there anyone in the area who can give him a hand with it - he doesn't
expect it done for nothing, and is willing to bung someone a few quid to
help him out.

I wouldn't have asked if he wasn't desperate, cheers,

 

Mancunia is a pretty big place...

 

Perhaps, but it seems as if there are no bike dealers in the area who
could help out.

Kiran

 

SteveH wrote

Sounds more like a nearly dead cell than an iffy starter motor but it
could be all manner of things.


If it is starter motor associated it is more likely to be it is loose,
i.e. mechanical rather than electrical.

 

The only reason I asked is that it's gone half four on a Friday
afternoon and he can't find anyone who's willing to have a look at it
before their mechanics go home at lunchtime tomorrow.

As I said, he's desperate as he's had one of his cars written off this
week. (they both work full time and have 2 young kids, so being down to
just the one car and not having a working bike is causing a few
problems).

 

Ruled that out by whipping the battery off the working cage - same
symptoms.

That's what I thought. Something to do with the engagement ring?

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, SteveH
<> typed

(VFR750 with fucked starter motor)

Looks like he'd better learn to start parking at the top of a hill.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - "Oh Bollocks" said Pooh, having forgotten his lines.

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha GTS1000

 

I've given him instructions to try and bump start it and told him he
might have to do that for a while until he can get it in somewhere to
get it sorted.... hardly ideal, though.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, SteveH

The starter clutch, IWHT.

Is the VFR starter motor in a position where a BFH can be applied?

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - "Oh Bollocks" said Pooh, having forgotten his lines.

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha GTS1000

 

SteveH wrote

Oh, that is a shame. Pity really cos it sounds just like that.

Hey ho, on with the less likely stuff it is then.

If it is mechanical then it will be the internals of the unit coming
apart and there is **** all he can do about it or, more likely, a loose
bolt where it is causing it to not spin right cos it is not properly
seated/engaged.

Might be a bad, especially corroded, electrical connection.

 

Yeah, we went through all of that whilst I was on the phone - taking
multimeter readings etc. just to rule out batteries and regulators
frying stuff.

I could do with getting hold of Sorby to find out if the starter was the
original one or one that came with the replacement engine. If it's the
original it's nearly 10 years old and will have been on the bike for
about 130k miles.

He's under instruction to get the fairing off and have a prod around.

His problem is translating what he knows about cars to bikes.... if this
was on his car he'd have had the starter off and been down the scrappy
by now.

 

SteveH wrote

Eh?

I could be accused of letting my old trainer persona have a moment of
freedom in my consciousness here and remark that it is a modernish
internal combustion engine is it is the fucking same, just arranged
different is all but I won't.

 

Well, yes, that's my point... they're the same but different. I've told
him to do exactly what he would if he were working on a car, but I think
it's the jumble of cables and pipes under the VFR fairing that puts him
off, and the fact that a lot of stuff seems to be hidden away between
the Vee and under the carbs.

It's a confidence thing, I think.

 

Cheers, I'll pass it on.

 

SteveH says...

My mum had 5 young kids, worked full time and never drove. She's not the
only woman I know who's been in that situation. What's your sister-in-
law's problem, has she got no fucking legs?

 

8 miles to work, and no buses.

HTH.

 

She leaves a fucking awful snail-trail on the carpets.

 

<g>

 

I don't know a lot about starter motors, but if I can help let me know.

 

Cheers, he's stripping the fairing off tonight and his mate who's a
mechanic for Vauxhall is going to have a look for him last I heard.