81 Interstate conversion into sport cruiser

[dontwantapickle]

Like others have said......
It sounds like your starter issue is the starter clutch / sprag.
- look it up -.
There are little springs, pins and rollers in it that get gummed up over time (especially after sitting for a while)
It presents as the starter just spinning, and every now and then it catches.
It's located behind the alternator and the engine has to come out to address it.

[sonoramike]

@dontwantapickle yep, I'm familiar with the starter clutch, but I'm having a hard time finding post/s with info on the tricks to get them freed up. It would make sense that the springs, pins, and rollers are all gummed up from the blown head gasket leaking coolant into the oil and making a mess of things. I read about someone running marvel mystery oil for about 100 miles, but I'm not ready to take this thing out on the road yet with all the unknowns. After some extensive searching I can't come up with anything else when I search for "starter clutch" - maybe I'm using the wrong keywords? Pointers to any relevant posts or info on starter clutch magic would be appreciated. Nothing about it in the ShopTalk section

The motor seems to turn over each time I R&R the starter, perhaps enough jiggling of the chain loosens things up momentarily? I'm still going to do the o-ring check just verify that the starter splines are engaged to rule it out before looking into seafoam and MMO, then working on mentally accepting that I'll need to yank the motor in the midst of all the projects I've got underway here.

ETA:
changed search to "sprag clutch", found:
GL1100 starter just spins. Please help!

[dontwantapickle]

The seafoam , MMO fix is a shot in the dark.
those rollers and springs sit up high and are splash lubed with engine oil.

with luck, you might get some seafoam to splash it's way inside the sprag and free things up,
but if it's bad....... probably not.
Heat can also help free things up. When you get it running, let the oil get good and warm.

The last gl1100 sprag that I did was so bad that the springs had rusted in half ( no amount of
engine de-gunk stuff is gonna fix that).

I attribute the issue to the fact that the sprag is not immersed in oil and therefore subject to all of
the moisture and contaminants inside of the crankcase after the oil runs off during long a lay up.

The best thing for them is to run the bike more and keep things lubed up and flushed out.

[sonoramike]

It just fired up, going to let it run for awhile, but I think I'll still drill the hole per the photos to be able to get solvent on them as needed going forward

[dontwantapickle]

It wont work on an 1100!
Only the gl1000's have the holes in the rotor to get the solvent tube in.
Trust me...... Been there - done that.

[sonoramike]

Ugh, well glad I know now. Hit the starter button a dozen or so times when it was running hoping it might help. Carb sync is off, idles high at ~1300 rpm but if I push on the carb sync linkage on the 1-3 side then the rpm drops down under 1k.

[sonoramike]

It wont work on an 1100!

that post I linked was specific to 1100's - are you sure this is 1000 only?

[dontwantapickle]

Honestly......... I wouldn't have wasted my time typing it if I wasn't sure.

This is a GL1000 rotor / sprag, notice the hole (there are actually 3 of them).
that's where the spray tube is inserted into the sprag.

1000 rotor.jpg (100.71 KiB) Viewed 192 times

This is a GL1100 rotor / sprag. They were redesigned, notice - No holes.

1100 rotor.jpg (25.48 KiB) Viewed 192 times

[sonoramike]

Fair enough, thanks for the detailed reply.

Can I come from a diff angle, perhaps straight ahead, to get to the rollers with solvent?

[dontwantapickle]

These are the "lube" holes on the 1100. they are not accessible when it's on the motor.

1100 rotor.jpg (51.21 KiB) Viewed 190 times

Who knows...... with some run time and some luck, it may free up on it's own.

[Rat]

I’ll say up front .... this is controversial and some kittens may die .... but I 'fixed' my last starter clutch problem by running synthetic oil ....

Gord(you didn’t hear it from me)Jones

[robin1731]

I’ll say up front .... this is controversial and some kittens may die .... but I 'fixed' my last starter clutch problem by running synthetic oil ....

Gord(you didn’t hear it from me)Jones

Nothing wrong with synthetic oil. Just all the misinformation about it out there.

.

[sonoramike]

Nothing wrong with synthetic oil. Just all the misinformation about it out there.

...and just think about those kittens. Seriously, stay away from the synthetics, sad cats are sad

[CYBORG]

I’ll say up front .... this is controversial and some kittens may die .... but I 'fixed' my last starter clutch problem by running synthetic oil ....

Gord(you didn’t hear it from me)Jones

Nothing wrong with synthetic oil. Just all the misinformation about it out there.

.

Seems like I used it once, But I'm wondering now if the benefit's of it justify the cost? Which brand is best? and does it change the intervals of changing? Just interested in everyone's opinion

[robin1731]

I use the same brand as the regular I use. Castrol. You can extend the change interval.