'83 Starter woes....

[Emjayw]

My starter went south the other day.  Yep, it was full of oil.  Lots of damage/wear to the brushes/commutator.  Cleaned everything up and installed a new double-lip seal from O'Reilly's and it seemed to be fine.  After a long  afternoon ride it quit again, with only a "click" upon pushing the button.  I drained the oil again, and found no oil in the starter, only blackened commutator and brushes.  Cleaned everything again and reinstalled to no avail. "click" only.  Do I need a new starter? There was a lot of wear on the commutator, more than I've ever seen on any of my Yamaha 650 starters.  I sure wish this bike came with a kickstsrter too!  A guy much wiser than I once said: " I'd rather try and re-light a candle than a burned-out light bulb".  I am not a fan of electric-only starting.  What's Yamaha going to gouge me for a new starter?  Any thoughts/solutions will be appreciated.  Mike in TX.   ???

[Lucky]

measure the brush lengths, you may only need to replace them.  you can buy a new starter from Yamaha for about $400,   :o   last time i checked, or you could save a couple of dollars & buy just the brush plate for about $50

[Night Vision]

I'm doing (another) one now (on my brother's bike).
I would start out cheape$t and work up...

1) bench test starter out of bike
2) check brushes for minimum length

3) new (oem) brush plate and get communicator turned
or source a used starter....

new oem starter? ... pricey!!!!

I was typing and Lucky was quicker!!! sorry for any duplicate advice

[MotorPlow]

Or bring it to a generator/alternator shop and let them rebuild it for about $30.00 with a warranty. We have a generator shop in Roanoke and I've had car alternators rebuilt along with tractor starters. Takes about 3 days from drop off to pick up.

In Roanoke, the shop is listed in the yellow pages under "Alternators, starters & Generators - Auto" just for your reference.

[Emjayw]

 ;D  Thanks everyone, for the timely and thoughtful input.  MotorPlow, I especially want to thank you for your suggestion because I called a local "Starter/Alternator" Guy here in Mansfield  and he had my starter rebuilt and back in my hands with a re-surfaced commutator and new hand-made brushes within 4 hours!  I can't say enough good things about this kind of service.  The Place I called was Paul's Starter and Alternator in Mansfield, TX  817-473-2688.  If you're in need of this type of fix, give Paul a call and tell him I sent you his way.  The damage? $42.00 out the door.  Thanks again, you guys are a busted Visionary's best friend.   Mike

[Phatjap]

Hello Emjayw,

Did you have any more trouble with your starter motor since repair?> Today I had the same trouble, just a click. If I jolt the bike in gear it frees and starts, but I need to do it each time. I took the starter off and the one of the brushes was about 5mm and the other about 4mm. (estim) is this about as low as they go to create a problem??

Many thanks