'85 Spree will not start with electric motor

[pprice]

I finally got my '85 Spree running over the past couple of months (with a ton of help from this forum, thanks) and everything seems to be working good except for the electric start. On a fully charged battery, the starter barely turns the motor over and it isn't fast enough to start the engine. Does that mean that my starter motor is just too weak? Or is there something else going on? It took me a long time to find my current starter for a decent price (the moped came with the wrong starter) and I don't want to go through that again if I don't have to.

I currently have the left side cover off and I am starting it with a drill on the belt pulley nut. It would be nice to not have to drive around with a cordless drill bungeed to the back of the moped so that I can start it back up when I need to stop.

[otto-man]

Your starter may be getting weak or the bendix may be dragging. Check where the bendex fits into the cover that it turns freely. Also, others have posted that a side cover gasket will give it a little better clearance. Good luck.....time to ride.

[Meloshameless]

Your battery is most likely on the verge of death. I helped a friend that had the same problem, once we jumped the battery it turned over. You can test using regular jumper cables, or a jumper pack. those 12v batterys can hook right up to a car and jump, charge etc. Hook it up, try starting it, if that works its ur battery. Last battery i bought off e bay called "chrome S pro" works great, cost $16-$17 shipped. Its on my bike now turning over a 72cc polini corsa bbk! Try searching under scooter battery.

[Wheelman-111]

Greetings:

If the battery is more than 5 years old - there's usually a date stamp somewhere under the grunge - replace it anyway.
The side cover absolutely needs the spacing furnished by that 0.5mm thick gasket. Without it, the ends of the Bendix are pinched and it won't spin well.
Some members have posted that the Bendix has to match the starter motor in the number of teeth. If it was replaced with a different model year, the gears will bind and not allow the Bendix to spin and engage the outer pulley teeth properly.

[benji]

^^I agree, these scoots eat batteries especially when they aren't run on a regular basis. I'd get a new one and a cheap trickle charger just cuz.

[patthesoundguy]

^^I agree, these scoots eat batteries especially when they aren't run on a regular basis. I'd get a new one and a cheap trickle charger just cuz.

I agree with Benji, the little wet cell batteries in these scoots hate vibration. And they can evaporate water sonthe electrolyte can be low and no charging can bring the charge up at that point. Check the levels innthe battery and top off with distilled water as needed. Let the battery rest for a few hours then try to charge it. Replacing it is always a great idea but only after checking to see if jump-starting get it to start properly.

[pprice]

I bought a new battery when I bought the scooter a couple months ago, but it has been drained repeatedly when I was trying to get the moped started early on, so maybe it's not any good anymore. I'll try jumping it. I don't have a gasket on the side cover, so that could be pinching a little more than it should. I'll look into ordering one of those.

The starter motor is from the right year and has the right number of teeth. I went through the process of buying the wrong year starter and having it bind because the teeth didn't line up.

[Eliterider]

Still trying to figure out whats going on with ur bike but its reasonable to say that not running a gasket on ur kicker casing would be the problem here like what evrybody else is saying. Before buying a gasket u should use washer to clear that space between ur kicker case and motor block.. Great way to save u cost.. It works and unbreakable lol

[patthesoundguy]

Don't buy a gasket, just make one a cereal box and a hammer a pair of scissors a hole punch and a good sharp box cutter and off you go. And just to keep you from getting beat up about it... A spree is a Scooter... Not a moped mopeds have pedals scooters do not.

[pprice]

I'll give the cereal box gasket a try within the next couple of days.

And thanks for clarifying the scooter/moped thing. I had no idea!

[Meloshameless]

Did jumping it work?

[motormike]

A spree is a Scooter... Not a moped mopeds have pedals scooters do not.

Keeping them separate seems to be much less important to the states we live in than it is to the riders of them...but still we fight for independence... ...

[pprice]

Finally got back around to working on the Spree (race cars have been taking priority lately). I tried leaving a gap with the left side cover to simulate there being a gasket there and to make sure I wasn't pinching the pinon and nothing really changed when I tried to start it.

I also tried jumping it and it was the same as when I had a fully charged battery. It started off cranking okay (still not really that fast) and then died down to barely being able to crank the engine after a second or two.

This leads me to believe that the starter motor is just weak which isn't good news considering the ordeal I went through just to get this one. I was going to take it apart and see if there is any gunk built up on the inside slowing it down.

[Ultraliner]

Have you tried measuring the voltage at the battery while you are cranking it? Even measuring battery voltage while pulling one of the brake levers to turn on the brake light can identify a suspect battery.

If the voltage starts rapidly going down as you are cranking it over then your good battery might not be as good as you think... If the voltage stays up around/slightly over 12V as the cranking speed slows down then start to look elsewhere

[noiseguy]

It started off cranking okay (still not really that fast) and then died down to barely being able to crank the engine after a second or two.

Does that really sound like anything different than a dying battery to you?

Seriously, hook a digital VOM to battery, check volts before and during crank. Betting volts drop way down on crank. I think typical drop is like 1 or 2V, and should be 13.7V at rest.