Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Startermotors

I bought a Triumph Legend Sept.2000 model not to long ago after having my BA.written off in an accident(young girl 17yrs. had her licence 3 weeks,told me later that she,d "never had an accident before",Lucky me ,i was her first. (she was on the wrong side of the road.)Anyway i,m getting sidetracked here,i have this T.Legend now with only20000 klms. on the clock, had all it,s services etc.in very good condition ,but,i,ve had a starting problem with it since i bought it,i traced it to the startermotor which i took to the autoelectricans and they promptly reconditioned it for me,they informed me that it had previously been reconditioned and was not in very good shape.Now my question is does anyone know if Triumph has had any problems with their startermotors or could there be another problem with the bike which is affecting the starter ?,cause 2 recons. seems abit excessive in 4.5 yrs. (battery,coils and relay all checkout ok.)

Was the shiela practicing for a trip to 'Murica?

I can only think of a couple of things that could shorten the life of the starter.
If there is something odd about the mounting causing it to not engage the drive gear properly, it would wear out the bearings quickly.
If the relay is sticking, the starter would continue to run after the engine starts and wear out.
If the over-running clutch were to stick, the starter would be turned by the engine, which would destroy it in short order.

Or, it could be that someone buggered up his job building the motor in the first place so that things don't quit fit. It's rare, but it can happen.

Thanks for the reply Greybeard,as far as the shiela goes she was lucky i wasn,t driving a truck, otherwise it would have been a oneway trip.
Do you know if it is possible to test a relay to see if it is sticking?
I,m inclined to think it was just a dud from the beginning.
I just need it to hold out till i can get my hands on a new 1500 twin when they come out.

A good technician could tell by looking at the starter what was wrong with it. Wear patterns on the gear, wear patterns on the bearings, shaft wear, etc. all give clues as to what the problem could be. I would ask him to elaborate on what they found...and tell you what causes that condition.
That could answer your questions..

Thanks for your input guys, i,ll do just that Grump, see what they come up with.