I picked up a rough looking but good running 86 fourtrax 250 over the weekend. It fires right up with the kickstart, but the electric start just makes a kind of whining sound. The guy I bought it from said it works sometimes. Any thoughts on what could be wrong? I don't want to spend a couple hundred on a starter if thats not the problem.
Thanks for any help!

 

It sounds like the starter gear isn't getting thrown into the flywheel gear. I'd just take it apart and lube the gear shaft.

 

Thanks! I'll give it a shot.

 

Wait a minute... quad starters are not like a car starter.... the gear does not slide on a shaft to engauge the flywheel.

The starter's end shaft is constantly in contact with the flywheel gear. The flywheel is engaged with the starter by menas of a one way bearing in the center of the flywheel near the crankshaft. These one way bearings (sprag type bearing) slip one way (when the starter is not in use the gear does not engauge with the flywheel), and when power is put to the starter the oblong rollers in the bearing **** to the side and engage the flywheel to the flywheel gear.
These one way bearings are known to chatter out the surfaces on the flywheelgear and flywheel where they grip during engagement.
Normally when the sprag bearing fails the starter will just spin and not turn over the engine. Other times they will turn the engine over for a little bit and skip which will make a clunking sound, then engage again.

Once again, the starter does not function like the bendix on a car starter


----- Gimpster -----

 

Thanks Gimpster...and sorry dingtown. So, what should dingtown do? Can it be taken apart and cleaned or fixed?