Greetings, I am new to the forum, and was given info about this site from a friend........have not looked around much, but, trust me, I will be all over it..........

Here is my problem.........in April of this year, I bought a 2001 Midnight Star, the motor is the 1600 cc........it ran great until August of this year....I went to start it and it would not start....I just heard a spinning sound.........be advised that this was my first bike and I know next to nothing about it, except that I love riding it.....really love it........anyway, I took it in to a Yamaha dealer and they "fixed" it....they said the bolt that holds the starter cluch in came loose........the 4th time I started it after I got it back....two days later, it did it again.....I took it back, and they advised that the bolt came loose again and they "red loctite" the bolt back in, and over-touqured it back on......it stared great for 2 months......it recently did it again......The bolt that comes loose goes into the crank shaft........

Has anyone else had this problem, and does anyone have any advice? Thanks in advance.........

Steve H

Steve
Reading through this might help. http://roadstarclinic.com/content/view/187/103/
There is also a tranny recall on your bike. Give the dealer your VIN and they can look it up to see if it's been done.

SteveH . If you go to the tech tips section under electrical
heading you will find info on the repair for this problem. Hope this helps. I'm sure someone with more knowledge of this problem will jump in .
Musky beat me to it again

Steve H,

I'm the guy that wrote the article that Musky referenced above. It's not hard to do this fix, if you're somewhat mechanical, and you're familiar with taking your exhaust system off, and basic stuff like that.

Otherwise, you could print off a copy of the article and take it to the dealer, and tell them to fix it right--this time. Chances are, they aren't lapping (grinding) the surfaces of the rotor and shaft. These surfaces must mate extremely tightly together, as friction between these parts is the only thing that sticks them together.

Hopefully, you're not getting stuck with paying the repair bill each time. They should be able to fix it so it stays fixed, if they follow the article's instructions.

By the way, if you are repeatedly having this issue, it must mean that you're getting engine back-fire--sometimes called, "the engine farting through the carb". And that usually means you're having a timing or carburetor mixture issue (probably carb).

Do you know if your bike is pretty stock?
Do you know if you've got an aftermarket ignition module?
Stock carburetor? (If not, what carb is it?)
Have your carb's jets been changed?
Stock exhaust?
Stock intake (air cleaner)?
Have you cleaned or replaced the air cleaner element recently?
Sparkplugs are good?

Anyway, you get the picture. We kinda need to know why you're getting the carb-fart upon startup.

Hope this helps.

yep

Chances are, they aren't lapping (grinding) the surfaces of the rotor and shaft. These surfaces must mate extremely tightly together, as friction between these parts is the only thing that sticks them together.


You nailed her...

Hi Randy,

thanks for the note........I am really new to this motorcycle thing, and will tell you I really love my Roadstar.....I don't see myself riding anything else......except a new one sometime down the road....

A friend told me to post and he actually told me about this site......he was right on, he described the problem based on what he thought and was totally correct........anyway, I printed off your article, and called the Yamaha dealer, and told him what I found (your article) and would bring it to him when I brought in the bike....he was very receptive........

I bought the bike in April of this year, and it had just under 16,000 mile on it.....I didn't ride much in April and May, but have put 4000 mile on it since then.....It seems to be mostly stock, but with Cobra long pipes......without the baffles.....I have no idea if he had the carb re-worked (don't know if the correct term is "re-jet&quot when he put the pipes on....but I am going to tell the dealer to do that for me when I drop it off tomorrow....

I will print off your post and take it to them as well.........I replaced the air filter with a Yamaha part back in June.......it appears to be all stock except the pipes.....I have not had the spark plugs replaced.....any suggestions as to what I should say to the dealer....this is there last chance to get this right.......

I am in the Phoenix area and am taking my Roadstar to Extreme Yamaha....

Thanks again Randy for taking your time to post your note on this thread.....I really appreciate it...

Steve

Steve,

You're welcome. Glad to help.

If you suspect any reluctance from your mechanic, based on this info coming from the internet (sometimes perceived by mechanics as a den of scammers and theives), just let them know that this source is a co-op of tens of thousands of R* owners.

As far as the carb info goes, you might want to also print off all (or at least some) of the articles in the CARB Tech Tips section. The stock carb isn't too hard (or too easy) to tune, but it can take quite a while to get the jetting just right. The info in the CARB area should dramatically shorten the time they'll need.

Since you sort of asked an open-ended question, let me also offer another suggestion. You might strongly consider replacing your stock air cleaner with one that breathes better.

When I replaced mine (see my sig-pic below), I got more power boost per $$ than any other mod I've done. (Note: I replaced my intake manifold at the same time so I can't actually say how much boost came from the air cleaner, and how much cam from the manifold.) If you can do both options, I'd highly recommend it... better gas mileage, too.

Anyway, the 4 most popular air cleaner systems seem to be:
* MaxAirEngineering.com
* BaronsCustom.com BAK (big air kit)
* Kuryakyn.com hypercharger
* Speedstar by Yamaha (or fRom K&N)

I have something else, but similar to the MaxAir.

The 3 most popular intake manifolds are:

* Speedstar, from Yamaha
* Stock, 'ported'. Instructions in the Tech Tips section, I believe
* Nemesis Racing, aluminum (I have this one), from DKPowdercoating.com (in the USA). Let me know if you have trouble finding this.

Both the air cleaner and manifold will necessitate re-jetting, so if you do them later, just know you'll need to jet again. No biggie; I'm just letting you know.

Hope this helps.

Hi Randy and everyone else,

Just wanted to give you a quick follow up on my Roadstar.....

I got the bike to the dealer on Friday, and he was very receptive to your fix I printed off......I contacted the service manager, and he was very good to deal with, I had contacted him the last time I was there....anyway....he advised that this starter rotor spin issue was in another bike, some sort of Yamaha dirt bike...250 cc maybe, I just don't remember the model, he said the way they fixed that is exactly the same as you described......

I had them check the transmission recall, and my bike had not been done so that is getting fixed while there......do you know what the recall is, and what do they do to the bike? He made it sound like the basically replace the transmission......He advised that they have to basically break down the entire motor......I also had them re-jet the carb with a new jetting kit (Am I using the right terms?) I am a gun (competition shooter), and like I said before, I don't know much about this, I am learng, and enjoy what I am learning......

He advised that the re-jet kit and the correct repair of the starter rotor should eliminate the problem I am having......

Again, thanks for your time....this a great forum.....

Steve

Sounds like you may have found a Gold dealer.

The tranny recall is to replace a circlip which may break. The mech needs to disassemble the motor to replace it. The dealer will need to order the kit and it takes couple of days to install it.

Doc

Steve,

I just happpened to be on the forum just now. That's great news! It all sounds real good.

The transmission recall is basically what the service manager said. Yamaha credits the dealer with 8 hours of labor, in which time they must remove the transfer case, the clutch assembly, heads, cylinders, and pistons, take the engine out of the frame, lay it on its side, separate the crankcase halves, swap out ONE part in the transmission (not too hard), and put it all back together using new gaskets, piston rings, and such. The cams and generator area need not be touched.

This recall was reportedly due to one Yamaha subcontractor that made those parts, and over time, their machinery became unreliable. (or something to that effect). So some of the bikes have bad trannies and some don't. It's impossible to tell which ones were made incorrectly, so they are replacing them all.

I've just completed a series of articles on the complete engine tear down (and more), that will be published before Thanksgiving (USA), if Gram gets time to pull the trigger (pun intended ). So you'll be able to see pictures (and description) of the whole tear down process, if you want. Sorry it wasn't quite ready beforehand. Not that the dealer should need it. They have the Yamaha Service Bulletin to follow (It's enough info for them).

Hope this helps.