Laboured starting

[KitchenSync]

Even with a whopping 550cca car battery my Falco didn't turn over any faster than normal (slow and very noisy). In fact the starter solenoid just burnt out and the power cable was vert Y
.warm .

How does one check a starler performance?

[blinkey501]

Even with a whopping 550cca car battery my Falco didn't turn over any faster than normal (slow and very noisy). In fact the starter solenoid just burnt out and the power cable was vert Y
.warm .

How does one check a starler performance?

Slow and noisy?

Like crunching noisy?

[KitchenSync]

No - just tortured noisy.

Cranking the engine by hand a few weeks ago during sprang replacement didn't seem to take any more effort than I recall with the old engine.

I guess I'd better whip the starter motor off and see what gives.... First step in diagnosing yet another problem.

[fatboy]

Hot leads indicate poor connection/poor earth either through the lead connector or starter motor itself.
Bloody hell,this one is making you earn your supper innit !

[old git]

I vote for dirty/corroded connection at the starter motor.
Drop it out & clean it up plus the connection on the cable, see what gives.

[KitchenSync]

https://goo.gl/photos/ABwGKHL4P9C92bwY9

That's a vid of my starter. Sound about right? I tried jump leads straight on to the starter but it made no difference to the speed.

[fatboy]

Well the starter seemed to spin at a decent speed on the battery( with no load ).
What is worrying is you say its really stiff to spin by hand, there should be some resistance from the magnets but it should spin 2 or 3 revolutions by hand.
Maybe the magnets have become dislodged?
Had similar problems with mine after a 12 month lay up.

[KitchenSync]

Just back from Hackspace where I stripped it down. Nothing untoward, bearings, brushes, commutator all fine.

Spins the same now it's back together so I guess it's all good.

Fixed my broken starter solenoid while I was there. The sprung conducting bridge had glued itself in place with some meltied plastic.

So I'll put it back together tomorrow and see what gives.

[KitchenSync]

and what gives is it now turns over some three times faster at a guess.

This is my original Falco starter - and it always struggled, often locking at TDC.

But no more - could it be that cleaning the commutator with wire wool did the job? Who knows! I'm just glad it works.

Bloody engine still won't fire though. Petrol vapour coming out of the pipes but not the slightest hint of it catching.

The last time it ran, 5 months ago, it was clattery and the rear cams were 1 tooth out. Fixed that and stripped out the Datatool at the same time. That was straightforward and I was methodical. Also fitted LED indicators all round with the double diode dash mod.

I do have sparks but need to be more thorough in checking them.all tomorrow.

[blinkey501]

and what gives is it now turns over some three times faster at a guess.

This is my original Falco starter - and it always struggled, often locking at TDC.

But no more - could it be that cleaning the commutator with wire wool did the job? Who knows! I'm just glad it works.

Bloody engine still won't fire though. Petrol vapour coming out of the pipes but not the slightest hint of it catching.

The last time it ran, 5 months ago, it was clattery and the rear cams were 1 tooth out. Fixed that and stripped out the Datatool at the same time. That was straightforward and I was methodical. Also fitted LED indicators all round with the double diode dash mod.

I do have sparks but need to be more thorough in checking them.all tomorrow.

What chip are you running?

[Dalemac]

How difficult is the starter to remove, disassemble and clean then?

I think it would be worth doing on my falco tbh.

[KitchenSync]

How difficult is the starter to remove, disassemble and clean then?

I think it would be worth doing on my falco tbh.

You can get it out in 10 mins - it *just* squeezes out between the radiator and thermostat/union thingy.

Two long M4 bolts hold it together plus the single bolt that holds the brush feeds. Use a 22mm socket to hold the four brushes apart when you slide it back together.

At one end there's a roller bearing and a bronze bush at the other.

The only thing I can think I did that was significant was cleaning the commutator back to shiny copper with wire wool, a bit of scraping between the contacts, plus cleaning the power leads faces with a file before bolting up nice and snuggly. It's made the world of difference.

[KitchenSync]

What chip are you running?

I've got a untinkered RSV ecu in at the moment - but I'll try the original Falco unit along with a plug change.

[Dalemac]

How difficult is the starter to remove, disassemble and clean then?

I think it would be worth doing on my falco tbh.

You can get it out in 10 mins - it *just* squeezes out between the radiator and thermostat/union thingy.

Two long M4 bolts hold it together plus the single bolt that holds the brush feeds. Use a 22mm socket to hold the four brushes apart when you slide it back together.

At one end there's a roller bearing and a bronze bush at the other.

The only thing I can think I did that was significant was cleaning the commutator back to shiny copper with wire wool, a bit of scraping between the contacts, plus cleaning the power leads faces with a file before bolting up nice and snuggly. It's made the world of difference.

Awesome, thanks for the info. Will have a go with that i think!

[KitchenSync]

Turns out that Falco's don't run on water! The tank had a good glassful of milky water sitting in it.

I have no idea where it came from. It could be from during paint prep from the colour of it - but that could equally be from contamination with something in the petrol.

The clue came when I was putting new plugs in - they were wet but the totally wrong kind of wet. Also something was nagging at me about the odd groaning the petrol pump was making.

Sure enough when I disconnected the fuel return pipe and plumbed in a transparent tube to an empty water bottle, what I got was an odd frothy mile colour.

Once I'd pumped it all out and replaced with pure new fuel the bugger started!

Disappointingly there's a coolant leak and the fans didn't kick in but that's easily sorted!

The new Fuel Carbon cans sound delicious.

Hurrah!!!