It was really cold here yesterday, about 20-30 degrees (that's cold for Dallas!) and I had a weird thing happen to my Raptor. When I went to start it, it started right up. I then changed the plug for a fresh one, hit the starter button, and it turned real slow and then freewheeled for a second. I let go of the button, hit it again before the starter stopped freewheeling and it still didn't catch. I stopped for a second, let it stop, and then it fired right up. For the rest of the day, it was fine. I talked to the local Yamaha service guy and he gave me the following answer: he hadn't heard of a problem with the Raptor starter, everything he's ever worked on has done this at one time or another, etc.

My questions are:
1. Could this be caused for some reason by the cold weather (motor hard to turn over because of the tighter clearances, battery not as efficient at lower temps, ticky/frozen bendix or one way clutch, etc.)
2. Would a low battery cause the starter gear to not have enough torque to engage and then just freewheel without meshing with the ring gear?
3. Should I be worried or just write it off as a fluke until it does it again since it didn't really do it the rest of the day?
4. Has anyone else in the Dallas area had this problem and if so, where did you get it fixed and did the dealer cover the costs?

 

I'll try and help.
1: The cold weather does mine the same way, I don't know if they have anything to do with each other but...
2: Good question.
3: The first time my starter went out it started doing it periodicaly then got more consistant. Then it just wouldn't engage at all. My starter about a month ago freewheeled until I drained the battery. The next day I pushed it off and it has not done it since, go figure.
4: My dealer covered mine under my six month warranty, as a good jesture I think is what they called it.
Sorry I was not any more help but thats all I know.

 

mine is doing it badly. worse after the engine gets warm. from what i've read it may possibly the one-way bearing. they have had problems with this in the raptor and especially the big bear. my mechanic was replacing one the day i stopped for something or other. he had one still in the plastic bag from yamaha for a big bear and when he picked it up the bearings rolled out of it. i freaked out. he said that wasn't good but it wouldn't be able to do that once it was in. unless it breaks like the one he was replacing had done. i'm thinkig shotty construction. i've not checked out whether that's what is wrong with mine yet. in the next week or two i will. the bearing is around $160. i'll let you know. if these starters are anything like my harley's, running them longer than a couple minutes without giving them a few minutes to cool down will burn them up.

 

<< he hadn't heard of a problem with the Raptor starter >>

What a load of B.S.
When I explained my problems to my shop supervisor, I already knew it was the 1-way clutch bearing from research.....get this...I said the problem is the 1-(now he jumps in and says it's the 1-way clutch bearing)...I think wow....how did he know that? Then I ask if this has been a problem? Read my previous quote for his answer..............yea right! Same old song and dance. Search under my nickname and you will find a bunch of info concerning this very serious problem.