1992 Yamaha Timberwolf Starter Grinding

[GMdieselman]

Well I'm new to the forum here, so first off hello to everyone. Well here is my really long story. I have a 1992 Timberwolf 250 and I'm having some problems with it. First off the starter is acting up. It will make a grinding noise when I am cranking in over, but not all the time, its only about 40% of the time. So I figured my starter drive was missing some teeth or the reducer gear or flywheel were. When I took the starter of everything was looking strong with no chips or missing teeth. After this I put the starter back on and with the spark plug out it would turn over and never miss a beat. As soon as I put the plug back in, it does the same thing, grinds 40% of the time. Is my starter drive bad or the whole starter? Any other suggestions?

Thanks

[oxidized_black]

hello and welcome to quad quazy !!

the starter will go nice until there is compression with the plug in. was the bike running good before? maybe the valves need ajustment?

[Ajmboy]

Welcome to QUADCRAZY! Sounds like a bad starter. With the plug out there is no compression and it's much easier for the starter to turn. With it in under compression it's harder...maybe the starter then starts skipping. Is it shimmed or anything?

* Added issue to thread title.

[GMdieselman]

I don't see any shims on it. I've asked some other people and they think its the starter or starter drive. A new one is only $50 so I might as well put a new one on there. My other problem is that it won't run or start should I say. I got it to run on an idle, but as soon as I gave it any throttle it died. Then it wouldn't fire again. Could my timing be off? It ran good before.

[oxidized_black]

timing might be off, but probably dirty carb.

[GMdieselman]

Well I will probably end up getting a carb kit for it and a new starter and see where I end up from there. Could I have a crank in the rubber intake boot?

[oxidized_black]

you might, but you can check it easily after you get the carb off, only two nuts holding it to the jug.

[GMdieselman]

Yeah I guess for now I will get a new starter and a carb kit and all that. I will be back to update once I get that finished.