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Hey all,

Own a 81' KZ1100 & had a problem restarting it today.

We rode for about 45mins & stopped @ a vending machine for a soda.

Went to restart it (it was off for about 5 mins) & cranked real slow a couple of times & then sounded like a gear-engaging sound but still no start. Tried a couple of times with the same no start result.

Waited a couple mins & tried to start it again. Sounded a little faster crank 2 or 3 times then it fired over. Rode it home w/o shutting it off (or killing it) with no problem.

I'm gonna have the battery & chg system checked before I ride again, but a buddy of mine with us said it sounded like the starter was hot. Is that possible?

On a side note & maybe contributing to the starting problem, seems like I can't get it to start @ any time w/o moving the petcock valve to prime. Maybe I'm losing vacuum too?

Thanks,
Dale

dgiardina,

I just had my starter apart for basicly the same reason, If your battery and wires to the starter check out you could pull the starter and inspect the brushes and "commutator" (copper bits on the armature, that the brushes ride on), If they are badly worn or out of round you may be able to have it turned/trued on a lathe like I did.

My starter turns the engine like it was new now.

Good luck,
Bill