Has anyone ever had any success in repairing their sprag/one way clutch on the starter system? I have removed mine from the bike altogether due to it locking up on the sprag clutch.
My 1VJ is really starting to annoy me with not kick starting when hot.It'll start fine when cold,fine when ridden to work.But as soon as I do a trail ride or ride a decent distance....Good luck trying to start it again.The last straw was yesterday,nice ride through back country NZ roads,waited for the other rider to cross a (very shallow) river,went to take off again and the bike stalled.Kicked the damn thing for near 30 mins,fuel on,fuel off,full throttle,no throttle,wound the mixture screw both ways from where it was set but nothing worked.So we sat down and let it cool off.After 30 mins,it starts 2nd kick!

Now the day before I had the same problem....I had a guy come and ask if everything was ok and did I need a push.Long story short,he said he had problems with his Ducati's sprag clutch doing what mine did and locking on and driving the starter motor while the engine is turning.He said you can replace the spring/s on the clutch to put tension back on the locking pins or whatever they have.Looking at the XT design,it looks to have one big spring round the outside.Is that correct? I didn't manage to get my flywheel off last time I tried to fix this,so haven't seen one other than a microfishe part pic.

If I can repair it for a few $ I'll be happy as Yamaha NZ want $352 for the unit ex Japan.

I know it's a different model to yours but there's lots of information about sprag clutches on here so hopefully it will be of use - YAMAHA TTR250 TRAIL and OFFROAD MOTORCYCLE FAQ.

Thanks for that,but I found that link before I posted.Thought I'd try the net before I asked the question.
Only thing with that write up is they didn't say what they did,so I'd imagine they've replaced the unit itself.I followed another link to a UK TTR site about replacing the starter motor and gears.It showed very worn sprag clutch teeth...It gives me an idea of maybe turning the teeth around which may work for a while.

Stating the obvious of course, but shouldn't you also set everything so that the bike starts easily. This problem is usually caused by the idle mixture setting. In your case too rich, I would guess ...

Idle mix to standard setting. Idle speed to at least 1200 rpm.
Warm up engine. Turn out the idle mix screw till engine speed increases. Go on till speed starts to decrease again. Half a turn back.
Set idel speed 2 - 300 rpm about factory standard - this makes for easier starting; you do not have to touch the throttle during the starting process. You get used to the higher idle speed.

Good luck!
Auke

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Auke
http://aukemarieke.blogspot.com

Trust me Auke,I've been there many times with you on the subject of idle mixture
It's lean on overrun,popping and banging.Sometimes does it between gear changes.I've gone through adjusting the mixture screw till it sounds nice at idle.Starts fine when cold,starts fine when warmed up to "normal" temp,but when it's been pushed,like I say tight trails,open road 100km/h cruising,come to a stop or stall it,you'll be working up a massive sweat kicking it for no result.Leave it till it's cooled down again,around 30 mins,and it starts usually first or second kick no problem.

Only other thing I can think of, which you may have done already, is to run a search on the associated TTR yahoo group - TTR250 : TTR250
although I suspect there will be something similar for your model but don't know where it is I'm afraid.
Good luck.

Cheers,having a look at that now.

Whatever the engine is doing on the over-run, it sounds like it is giving you too much fuel at start-up. I had the same problem (exactly the same as you describe) on an old two-stroke many moons ago, and the only cure was to turn off the fuel 300-400m before stopping, so the float chamber was empty when you came to rest.

At the risk of stating the obvious, have you stripped the carb and made sure the choke is closing, the float needle is seating, the floats are undamaged and the levels are correct? That's the first place I would be looking. Also air leaks in the carb rubbers, from experience. Apologies if that is too basic.

I had two kickstart XT350s, and both were buggers to start when hot. The 600E seems to start first time, hot or cold, but the electric foot helps.

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2006 XT660R daily ride, 1994 XT600E about to be reborn, Blog: http://goingfastgettingnowhere.blogspot.com/