Hi All,
The starter on my 2003 HD FXDL was becoming very intermittent for the last couple of months. When I pressed the start button, sometimes the bike would start right up, and sometimes I could just hear the starter whir but did not seem to engage to start the bike. Finally the bike just would not start at all and the starter whirred all the time. I figured that the starter was fried, so I bought a new one. I installed the new starter and pressed the start button and again the starter just whirred and did not engage to start the bike.
At this point, I am clueless. Could it be something else, or did I purchase a defective starter. Originally, when the starter stopped working I do not know what was going on with the pinion gear, etc inside the primary cover.
After I installed the new starter, I left the primary cover off so I could take a look at what was going on while trying to start the bike. When I pressed the start button, the starter still just whirred but did not engage to start the bike. When I looked at the pinion gear inside the primary while I was pressing the start button, it was spinning but did move to the left to engage the clutch ring gear. I do not know exactly how a starter works but someone told me the pinion gear is supposed to move out to the left to engage the clutch ring gear.
Any ideas as to what might be the problem?
Thanks in advance,
Bobbycoz