[Dukes12Rancher420]

Took the Rancher out and it acted like the battery was weak. Took it home and charged it up to no avail. It acted like the starter motor couldn't get past the compression stroke. Sometimes it would make it past but cranked very slowly. Sometimes you'd only hear the solenoid click. Started troubleshooting and so far I've:

Replaced battery
Replaced Solenoid
Replaced Starter Motor

I can turn the motor over by hand pretty easily and it has good oil.
Starter works just fine if I remove it from the motor.

Could the little bearing that holds the starter shaft in the engine case be bad? Any way to test that? I'm happy to pull the motor but if anyone can think of anything I might be missing, I'd be grateful!

I may just go ahead and replace all 4GA battery/ground/starter cables on the off chance that one of them just isn't good enough to push the amperage needed to crank the engine.

Thoughts?

 

[Here 2 help]

It would be wise to check the battery voltage while cranking the engine. Especially since the new battery is in an unknown condition.

We place a lot of blind faith in batteries and are dismayed when we get one that is bad brand new, but it's not all that uncommon to get a new battery that is bad.

While the battery may be new; when was it activated, how was it activated, was it charged prior to installation and if so how was it charged? I have seen knowledgeable people use improper charging techniques and damage new batteries.

If the battery voltage drops below 10.5 volts while cranking the engine, the problem may be a faulty battery, connection or starter motor.

 

[Dukes12Rancher420]

It would be wise to check the battery voltage while cranking the engine. Especially since the new battery is in an unknown condition.

We place a lot of blind faith in batteries and are dismayed when we get one that is bad brand new, but it's not all that uncommon to get a new battery that is bad.

While the battery may be new; when was it activated, how was it activated, was it charged prior to installation and if so how was it charged? I have seen knowledgeable people use improper charging techniques and damage new batteries.

If the battery voltage drops below 10.5 volts while cranking the engine, the problem may be a faulty battery, connection or starter motor.

Interesting take but I'll try anything... I assumed all batteries voltage drops when trying to start an engine...

I went out, put the meter on the new battery with no load (have NOT tried charging it since new). Voltage was 12.3V. Cranked it and saw the voltage drop down to 10 when it was able to get a single revolution out of it, even 7 volts when it would "hang" or not be able to push a single revolution.

Starter motor, solenoid and battery are all brand new. I'm thinking I'll try all new cables (power and ground) before I get into pulling the engine out.

 

[Here 2 help]

First - try jumper cables to a larger battery (boat, riding mower, car) and see how it cranks.

 

[Dukes12Rancher420]

Well, I put jumper cables from my pickup truck to the battery and no change/difference... So, just to be sure, I actually clipped the negative jumper cable to the negative bolt on the starter and touched the positive jumper cable to the positive post on the starter and no change... Still couldn't turn it over. I'm guessing this motor has something going on inside the motor binding it up. Since I know it was ridden hard before I got it and my son has ridden it hard for 2 years, a complete engine tear down and rebuild would be a good father/son project! Time to price and order the parts!

 

[Dukes12Rancher420]

Well, I pulled the motor out... Valves were out of spec... Got those adjusted. I put the battery cables to the starter with no spark plug in (make it as easy as possible for it to turn over) and nothing... Took starter out and my new starter is/was CRAP! I got what I paid for... I went for the cheap option when I ordered it. It worked a few days ago but I'm guessing it wasn't working that well. My OEM starter should be here tomorrow! Ugh!!!! I'll try "hot wiring" the new OEM starter while the motor is out to be sure she turns over before I put the motor back in. Might replace both clutches while I've got easy access too...

 

[Here 2 help]

Hard lesson to learn - did you buy the POS starter from Amazon? Try returning it. There are aftermarket starters that are pretty good and cheaper than OEM, but the Mitsuba starter that Honda installs at the factory is definitely superior in construction. The Rick's and Firepower brands are actually pretty good. I prefer Rick's over Firepower, but if a Rick's is not in stock in the warehouse and Firepower is, then I buy a Firepower brand. I put a Firepower lithium battery in my CRF250X 6 years ago and it is still going strong. You pay more for a Zero Gravity lithium battery, but I don't know that it is any better.

Sorry for your experience, but hopefully nothing else wrong. I don't think replacing the clutches is necessary if you were not experiencing any clutch issues, but of course replacing the clutches with the engine out is preferable to doing the job with the engine in the unit. With the engine in, the swing arm has to be removed for access.