Fairly new-to-me '02 GSA with 80K+ miles. Starter had been particularly loud since I got it, compared to my former bike, a Y2K GS. Recent cold weather starting procedures resulted in what sounded like the starter just spinning, not engaging the flywheel. I swapped the starter from the '00 GS after a good clean and lube. Same problem. Serviced the GSA starter and confirmed it's proper functioning. Inspection of flywheel revealed a bit of wear on the gear and a small amount of metal shavings, but not enough to indicate severe damage to the flywheel gear. Dreaded the thought of a worn-out flywheel, but decided to install the original starter to see if it helped. Upon install, I noticed some play in the mounting bolt holes. Before I tightened the bolts, I made sure the starter was snugged up against the motor, bringing the starter and flywheel gears as close to each other as possible for full engagement. The result is a very quiet, smooth engagement of the starter, and the motor fires right up. I haven't run across any mention of this "adjustment" in any of the starter procedurals I've read here or elswhere. I hope this info is helpful to folks in the future. Cheers!
If not mistaken, the starter on the oilheads is aligned with a dowel. Was that the case with yours? Also, did you do any more than clean and lubricate the moving parts such as new brushes, burnish the commutator, clean the contacts, etc?
An inspection of the GS reveals a dowel, I'm fairly certain it was not present on the GSA. This would explain it's misalignment. Only cleaned and lubed the moving external parts, I did not disassemble the motor itself.
As i understand, some of the aftermarket starters on the market do not have the locating dowel. Possible that the starter in question was one of these?
If the dowel is not there you can use a 4mm allen key as an alignment tool. Slide it in through the starter case checking the depth to ensure it is going past the starter and into the engine casing.
The starter on the GSA looks a lot newer than the rest of the bike. Has a "Made in Poland" sticker. Is likely an aftermarket. Whoever replaced the starter must have lost and not replaced the dowel.
Good to know it's likely an OEM replacement part, but a good reminder that the quality and conscientiousness of the work performed is at least as important as the quality of the parts used.
