Topic: CB550 engine won’t turn over with Kickstarter

[bnp]

I’ve seen similar discussions on the forum but none that I could find that happened under the same circumstances. I’m getting to the end of my frame off 550K0 build so I decided to finally test my starter that came with the engine.

I know it’s probably not the best way, but I put some oil in the cylinders, hooked up a jump box grounded to the engine case and tapped the starter wire to 12V. Long story short, the starter engaged for a moment then a *click*, then nothing. When I checked the kickstarter it wouldn’t budge. I assumed the electric starter had locked itself in the gear, so I popped it out and tried again but no luck.

Any ideas what this is? Engine turned over very smoothly with good compression before I tested the starter.

-Brendan

[HondaMan]

I’ve seen similar discussions on the forum but none that I could find that happened under the same circumstances. I’m getting to the end of my frame off 550K0 build so I decided to finally test my starter that came with the engine.

I know it’s probably not the best way, but I put some oil in the cylinders, hooked up a jump box grounded to the engine case and tapped the starter wire to 12V. Long story short, the starter engaged for a moment then a *click*, then nothing. When I checked the kickstarter it wouldn’t budge. I assumed the electric starter had locked itself in the gear, so I popped it out and tried again but no luck.

Any ideas what this is? Engine turned over very smoothly with good compression before I tested the starter.

-Brendan

After putting oil in the cylinders, did you also leave out the sparkplugs for this test? It might be too much oil at the time, hydraulically locking the engine (it doesn't take much!). It slowly drains past the rings, but maybe try without the plugs?

[bnp]

I had the plugs in for the test, after having that pointed out it seems obvious that it might be an issue. I guess I assumed that in a cold engine it would get through the ring gap relatively quickly. I am going to pull the plugs and try the Kickstarter  to see if it changes anything. Is that starter motor strong enough to bend a rod? That seems far fetched to me even with a hydro lock. Hope there’s no damage, would be a shame to tear the engine down.