After taking my quad to two different shops and having them listen to the irregular sound of my starter...both seemed to think it sounded a bit different but wernt really worried about it.....
The starter in general just sounds louder... and almost has a cruncy/grinding noise.... (i only have around 50 some hours on my baja so i know the brushes should have plenty of life left in them) both shops said it seemed fine and said it probably wouldnt be worth paying them to take it apart...

The other part to this is the loud snapping.... (after hitting the starter for a few seconds if it dosnt start right up and runs for a bit it will stop and make a huge snapping sound) i suspected it was the piston mid-compression stroke and the starter cant push it so it snaps it back down (its a HORRIBLE HORRIBLE noise...and im almost positive this is harming SOMTHING) But the one mechanic i got to listen to it (a guy who works in a yammy shop who i know pretty well) said it was probably the mid-stroke thing as i suspected and wasnt too worried about it....

im leaving on friday morning for little sahara utah and am taking my quad and just HOPING it runs well and dosnt give me any trouble...

but im wondering if when i get home i should pull the starter out and inspect it and the gears? (how hard is it to check sarter motor and gears?)

has anyone else had starter symptoms similar to this? (i searched but only problems i found people to have was oil contaminating it which i dont think has anything to do with me)

maybe im just being ultra-paranoid but the snapping sound is just awful (anyone who has ever been around engines would cringe when hearing this...lol)

 

alright i know i have been lean (havnt messed with jetting too much as im preparing for Utah and know i need to jet down so i thought my slightly lean settings might be semi-close to the settings i need in utah)

that is really good to know though...

now to idle rpm i usually have it set to around 1600 i believe.... i never really did ask around what was a good setting but i never liked having the quad idle high.... (always thought it was a waste of fuel and energy) could this be part of the problem?

Also im not positive but i was thinking that i was holding the starter down but it would just stop and then do that (might be wrong i havnt payed 100% attention to that)

 

the loud slap sound I've heard a couple times over the years with my DS, and I think I might have been lean. it certainly shouldn't be happening regularly or something might be wrong.

 

it still happens even with an over-rich 45 pilot in there.... Should i look to my needle? what about the starter jet? Never really hear anything about that.... does that onlys suck fuel for starting it?

 

never dealt with one as in a problem or just in general? (i would be curious as to where the one way is and what it takes to pull it or test it somehow to know for sure if thats the problem)

 

the one way bearing or sprag bearing is behind the flywheel , you need a flywheel puller to get to it.

 

when the on/off is OFF it seems to still have a bit of the grinding noise... but i dont believe i have gotten it to do the snapping sound with it off.

 

Mine did this too, ended up being the cam chain tensioner collapsed. I put a new one in and no more noise.

marrtoo

 

ahh how long did it take to tear-down to reach it/pull it out/replace it? (im thinking i just need to take the plunge and carefully pull the cases off and take a look-see inside to finally take care of these annoyances....

sorry for the delayed response, just got back from utah/colorado riding [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] great fun, and the ds suprised me and i didnt have any problems.

 

I was going to suggest the Cam tension Adjuster as well. I once was checking my valve clearances and had the tensioner pulled out, did not sound good at all when I cranked it over with the switch off, it snapped very loud. First thought the pistion popped a valve but it was the chain banging againt the plastic guilds.