starter clutch grinding

Starter clutch grinds when engine is hot.
The thread below describes my issue well.

http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=2 ... noise.html

My problem is virtually always when the engine is hot. Rarely when the engine is cold, unless the battery goes weak. The starter also recently died quick and I replaced the starter brushes. Starter armature contact strips pitted but I sanded them shiny and put the starter back together. Starter seems to be working ok.

I want to try dousing the starter clutch with Seafoam via the starter to engine mount hole.
I cannot determine the proximity of the starter clutch using the blowout drawing.
When peering into the hole where starter fits into engine, there is the idler gear immediately to left inside hole. Then thru another hole (cast with the engine block) at the back wall of the hole the starter mounts into, is another gear that I cannot identify in drawing. Which of those gears should I douse with Seafoam?

 

You access the S-clutch through the generator housing.
What oil are you using? having the correct oil can have a big effect on the S-clutch.

 

Some history I maybe should have included in my original post.
My starter clutch grinding when hot has been an issue for many years.
My recent work to the bike (due to my enthusiasm - due to XJbikes) has made the issue less prone (I thought it was gone), bike running better than it has in years, still this nagging issue.
Spectro synthetic was used in bike during most of it’s miles (62K). I have read some of the various opinions of synthetic oil. I have put Castrol car oil in last few years and have used bike little during those same years. And, shamed to admit, I did very few oil changes in the years I rode little. I recently put in Valvoline 20W-50 and it got noticeably dirty in just 200 miles.
I can understand how the starter clutch would be more accessible via the alternator housing. I was hoping there was a short cut via the easier to remove starter.

 

Valvoline Motorcycle 4stroke 20W-50 currently.
I plan to go to (more $) Mobil 1 V-Twin 20W-50 once I get through with quicker oil change strategies to clean up the internals. I know some are biased against synthetic oil, but the research I found shows synthetics to be superior. And 62K on my Seca using mostly Spectro Gold seems to have done well (other than possibly making my S-clutch to slippery some may say).

 

Several years ago, I interviewed a life-long Yamaha Tech who is one of Yamaha's best Technicians on the East Coast.

He took me through the "Starter Clutch Shortcut" and I published the details on another XJ-Site.

I think some of what I wrote lives-on in the archives of this site.
There is a "Shortcut" to replace the Rollers and Springs.

XJ-Bikes Memmber "redcentre3" has successfully completer the task.

Behind the Alternator Stator is an Inspection Cover that is secured by TORX Fasteners that were treated with Permanent LocokTite.
You need a Hand-held Impact tool and a TORX Socket to break loose those TORX Fasteners and gain access to the internals beyond the cover.

This will be of no use to someone whose Starter Clutch Assy has become fractured.

But, as out enterprising Member from "The Land Down-Under" will tell you.
With nerves of steel and the patience of a Saint ... you can manage to get the New Springs and Rollers in there without Splitting the Cases.

 

Rick, why do you persist in offering members false hope, the starter clutch 'shortcut' is a figment of the imagination.

 

I have a healthy imagination !
I imagine with the way I have treated my starter clutch over the years, if it has not fractured yet, it’s not going to. I imagine I could do the short-cut RickCoMatic writes of, it makes sense to me – I believe !

Although, I was hoping for a holistic cleaning strategy before attempting a major operation that has possible failure to the point of (what’s the term?) splitting the case open.
It seems the oil passages need cleaning so I will try some cleaning via oil & SeaFoam and see if the S-clutch improves. I have cleaned the YICS galley and noticed it gets dirty again just after just a few hours of riding. I find black YICS Yuks with tiny carbon bits. I have also run some SeaFoam in the gas so maybe it’s cleaning carbon from the valves and the some of that carbon is landing in the YICS galley. The YICS ports are open best I can tell using ¼ inch hooked probe.