49cc Scooter - Starter Sounds like its slipping

[collinschock]

Hello All!

I have completely fixed my tao tao 2009 49cc scooter. It runs well, kickstarts great. Electric works great as well. 1 issue I've been having, is the electric starter is acting strange. It works maybe 20% of the time. Most of the time, the starter runs but just either sounds like a grinding noise or just a humming noise. I have a brand new battery, and can hear the starter hum.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

[pinkscoot]

Possibly the bender needs cleaning.

[FrankenMech]

May 8, 2024 13:55:09 GMT -5 pinkscoot said:

Possibly the bender needs cleaning.

You mean Bendix. When the starter motor starts spinning the sudden torque throws the Bendix gear out against the ring gear connected to the crankshaft. Sometimes dirt, rust, or even old crusty grease on the mechanism can cause the Bendix gear to stick on the starter shaft and fail to engage the ring gear on the variator.