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Starter clutch help!!!

Discussion in 'XJ Technical Chat' started by sunnyd, Apr 17, 2009.

  1. sunnyd

    sunnyd New Member

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    I recently purchased an 83 xj650. When I try starting the bike I can hear the engine turning over and than all of a sudden its like the starter clutch just kicks out. At times it doesn't even allow the engine to try turning over. Also when it kicks out you hear a bunch of rattling/grinding sound ( hard to explain). Any body got any ideas?
     
  2. bill

    bill Active Member

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    The starter clutch is internal to the engine and "requires" the case to be split for service. The quotes are because it is possible but very tricky to replace another way.

    BUT most of the time there are other causes. Give us some history on the bike.

    Synthetic oil or oil with friction modifiers can cause the kinds of issues and are fixed with a simple oil change.
     
  3. Thee_oddball

    Thee_oddball Member

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  4. sunnyd

    sunnyd New Member

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    I bought the bike off of a friend who had it in the family for a while. The original owner kept on crashing and dropping the bike so he just gave it to the tow truck driver as payment for the tow. It was bought by my friends father, who rode it for a while, tought his wife how to drive on it as well as my buddy.
    I paid $250 for it and it ran when i bought it but it was spraying gas back into the air filter so i called around some shops to find out what could be the problem (i did not know about this forum at that point). I was referred to this one guy who claimed he was a expert. He took part the carbs supposidly cleaned them and than did a basic oil change and everything.
    When i went back to his house to start up the bike he wouldn't start at all and he than claimed the bike never ran in the first place and the only thing he could do if I wanted was rip apart the motor and find out exactly whats wrong. I told him that thats ok I will take it to my other buddy and see if he could do anything.
    I later took the carbs apart myself and noticed that he put the jets in the wrong locations, messed around with the mixture screws and also he didn't even clean one carb. He also put way to much oil. I put everything back to what it was suposed to be and tried starting it and it fired up.
    That was when I noticed the problem with the starter clutch.
     
  5. sunnyd

    sunnyd New Member

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    Also what kind of oil would you recommend to use?
     
  6. Robert

    Robert Active Member

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    10W40 is factory recommended. Loads of good oils out there, just don't use anything that says "energy conserving".
     
  7. bill

    bill Active Member

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    Personally I like Castrol 20W50 but as Robert said stay away from friction modifiers. I would get some good oil and change it myself - then see if the starter problem is still there.

    I put synthetic in mine when I first got it and the starter clutch slipped like crazy. Changed the oil and it went away for over 2k+ miles. Give it a try.
     
  8. bill

    bill Active Member

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    By the way I'd find a new "expert".

    I recommend YOU - get a manual and read this site. Post if you have any questions or get stuck. If you have basic mechanical skills you can fix anything you are going to encounter.
     

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