Starter Problem - 1998 115 TLRW

[17ma]

My starter works fine until the engine fires and tries to start. The problem begins when the engine briefly fires. At this point, the starter will disengage and spin. I must restart and the engine and it will very briefly pop and the starter will spin off again. Sometimes it may take as many as 20 tries to get the engine going.

I can pull the kill switch and run the starter continuously without any problems.

If the starter would stay engaged a fraction of a second longer, I think the engine would start promptly. The engine is in good shape and runs fine.

Are there any adjustments. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Hamfisted]

The pinion kickout spring might be a little too strong for that particular starter. You can pull the starter off and pull the C-clip off the end of the starter shaft and inspect the spring. It's just under the bushing there under that C-clip. You don't need to pull the pinion gear off the shaft. Maybe shave the spring down a hair, or they sell replacement kits for about $8 (p/n 61H-81857-00-00 ) at the dealer . Any of your buds have another V4 Yamaha you can borrow the starter from to test? Other than that a new starter is about $550 at the dealer. But it doesn't sound like your whole starter is bad.


-Mike

[Ken]

17ma,
If it makes you feel any better - my 2000 C115 does the same thing at least once every fishing trip. May "pop" four or five times before I get the motor started again - this is after the motor has warmed up fully.
I have found that when it "pops" that first time and the starter disengages, if I choke the motor, it won't pop again and will usually start back up ok. Give it a try [img]smile.gif[/img] ,
Ken K

[17ma]

Thanks for the info.

I'll just work around this annoyance until a definite solution is found. This is probably borderline normal behavior for a starter. Along with the choke trick, I could use the kill switch to allow it to turn over for a second and get the juices flowing.