[goatherder99]

My electric starter works about 2/3's the time. If it doesn't kick in I can usually tap it with a hammer and it will turn over. When I pulled the starter it turns every time on the bench.... So I'm not confident it's a starter issue, or is it just that it needs to be under a load to fail. When it does fail on the bike I confirmed that it is getting voltage. Since I can tap it with a hammer and it works I'm fairly confident its the brushes in the starter motor but thought I'd check here first.

Other issue I have is motor oil dripping out the yoke boot on the rear output shaft. I assume this is due to a failure of the rear output shaft seal but wanted to ask and see if anyone else has had this issue before I tear the swing arm off to replace. I noticed where the engine breather presses up to the air filter in the air filter box there was a little lube on the filter, wondering if that was causing an air tight seal that was raising the engine pressure causing the oil to be forced out of the seals.

 

[Jeepwm69]

Welcome to the forum.

On the starter, sounds like it needs brushes. Tapping on the hammer can dislodge where it's caught up and allow it to spin, and with no load it will spin. I'd take the starter apart and inspect. Sometimes you can just clean them and they'll work for awhile longer. If the brushes are worn, replace the brushes.

If you have oil dripping from the swingarm boot I'd definitely replace the rear output seal. The crankcase vent going into the airbox will vent oil if it's overfilled, and the filter should be oiled anway, so could be the normal filter oil or could be a little blow by, but in either case if you have pressure in the crankcase it would go out that vent before it would blow past the output seals.

 

[ATC4ever]

I wouldnt tap too hard as the newer Japanese car starters (let alone wheelers) supposedly have ceramics in them & can be broken. Not 100% sure on this, but that alone would make me be more cautious.

 

[goatherder99]

Took the starter apart and cleaned up, there was a lot of dust from the brushes wearing down over time. Put it back together and it starts better now than it ever has. I'm going to wait till winter to tackle the output seal. It isn't leaking too bad and I've got too much going on to tear the swingarm off to do the replacement. Thanks for the advice jeepwm69!