This video might be a little graphic (but not really), it hurts me every time this happens.

Ive looked around and it seems like the issue is either starter clutch or the compensator. It only happens when the bike is hot and never on the first startup.

Any insight?







EDIT: Editing with my findings after replacing the starter clutch



Morning,

I picked up the new front wheel over the weekend so I could put the bike back together.

I put it all back together Saturday, started the bike, there was a weird noise...whining noise almost like if the chain was loose, and it was leaking a little oil.

Sunday morning, took everything apart and noticed the [brand new] starter clutch wont disengage, it would not pull back in...so i figured the noise came from that.

Turns out, whoever assembled the brand new starter clutch put two metal ***** in there instead of one, so therefore the starter clutch could not back out.

The leak was from a small gasket I forgot to put in.


Put everything back together, my battery was a little low because the bike has been parked for 5 weeks and the battery has been off of the bike..so the bike had some trouble starting up, but not the same symptoms as before. Left the bike on the charger over night and have not tried it today yet but I am almost positive the grinding noise is gone.




If i had to make any recommendations to anyone who is following this thread;

The hot start makes the worst noise...feels like metal grinding on metal. From my personal research, this is almost always caused by either the compensator or the starter clutch. So you have two options;

• Spend 80-90 dollars to replace the starter clutch....to do this, you need to battery, battery box, unplug the starter, take the starter out, and maybe another 15 minutes working on the starter to get the clutch in...extremely easy
  
• Spend 350+ dollars to replace the compensator...to do this, you need to take the the outer primary off, take the chains off, clutch off, tensioner off, inner primary off, and replace...and then you have to replace all of the gaskets, which add up to around 60-70 dollars.

The factory compensator and starter clutch are both vulnerable to going bad. I opened mine up because i wanted to see how everything worked, and saw that there were no metal shavings so i decided to replace the starter clutch first and hope for the best.

If you go with compensator, I would strongly advise throwing in the 30t pulley in there while you are that deep into it!

Please let me know if anyone has any questions I can answer.

Here is a picture with the new wheel and the new front suspension!

 

Can you post up what year your bike is, how many miles, and engine mods, etc

Pretty easy to pull the primary cover and take a peek, might give you some more clues. If you do see something, post up a pic.

 

Mine has been doing the same thing lately...2011 WG, about 30k miles. cams, tuner, a/c, exhaust upgraded. I just recently changed the oil in the engine and primary, and adjusted the clutch; everything looked good. Aside from the hard starting it runs great.

 

Sorry!
09 Streetbob with about 13k miles...just an exhaust for now.

The primary will be opened probably in a week or two, but just seeing if anyone has had this experience. I did a 4k trip like this and thankfully I did not get stuck but it seems like its getting worse now.

 

Yep! Once it starts, its golden but sometimes it takes a bit to start.

Through some of my research, it cuts down on the rough start if u press start as soon as the fuel pump starts priming.

Also through my research, i found out that the stock compensator is a POS, and the SE Compensator is a huge improvement.

 

Do another picture doing the same noise showing your finger on the start button. Sounds like your battery is good. The starter clutch is actually drive pins that once gas motor is running, it actually runs faster then the starter motor and runs away from them disengages the start with a whizz sound. Some people think a weak compensator spring causes it. That noise is actually engine kicking back because something is failing to drive it fwd to get both cylinders firing and running. By it kicking back, sure, it's the starter being trown back and the compensator being violently reversed. However, that is not your problem..(the noise) What is weak to keep from driving engine fwd before the long stroke 2 cylinder motor is running..
Remove (to insure connection), charge 24 hrs and then have battery load tested. If you have mods like a piggy back tuner, connect it back to the Harley system. How many miles on starter. Could be starter solenoid contacts. Lot of starts could be high mica on the starter brush motor area. ARE YOU HOLDING DOWN ON STARTER BUTTON TILL IT'S RUNNING OR ARE YOU LIFTING ANTICIPATING THE CRUNCH? OF COURSE, IF IT CRUNCHES TAKING START AWAY YOU LIFT, BUT SOME PEOPLE CREATE THE PROBLEM BY LIFTING AND TRYING TO START MOTOR IN SHORT CYCLES AND ALSO WEAR THE STARTER CONTACT OUT SINCE EACH CONTACT CAN START THE MOTOR. SO IF YOU LIFT 4 TIMES, THAT IS LIKE 4 STARTS.

 

I bought the bike with about 6k miles on it, and i have not changed it since...i would imagine its factory starter so 13k miles on it. I dont believe its the solenoid because its ONLY when the engine is hot...ive never had the problem starting it fresh for the first time.

I press the Starter button and then let it go when it fails to start after the crunch and when its obvious that it is not going to start.

 

Starter clutch.
That is a weak part of the equation for sure.
Had the same thing/sound happen to my SG changed out the compensator first but then changed out the starter clutch too.
Baker was out here last year for the rally and figured WTF might as well have it done too. Stock comp did not look all that bad really.
Should have done it the other way around but I can about guarantee that it is the starter clutch.

One thing you can do to not exacerbate the problem is to let the bike sit a minute or so while running and then turn it off.

 

Is the battery original, if so probably time...a load test will tell the story. I replaced mine when it was a little over 3 years, I was having a hard time restarting after engine was warmed up too. I bought a Battery Tester on Amazon(not very expensive) and found out the battery was getting weak, had a big voltage drop during crank, all good now with a new battery.

 

The starter clutch. Actually a sprang clutch and the process of the starter. Since it's doing it only when hot, make sure you do not have a fuel injector leaking. Remove air filter when hot and off open throttle and make sure there is no drips in throttle body. Could be something as simple as the start relay on the fuse box. I would check the simple before going into primary or pulling starter.(requires going into primary I think on your bike..new ones do not but my 04 does)