starting problems

[jake]

hi. i boutght a cannondale. the engine was rebuilt by timbo and when i bought it, according to the gu it had less than 4 hours on it. i've put about another 6 hours on it tops and changed the oil. it ran great for another few rides(maybe another hours worth of riding). i went to start it the other day and the starter just spun without the engine turning over. i took off the starter and the cover on the side of the engine where the starter gose into. i was thinking the gears would be stripped out, but i gues i was wrong. the gears look great. no shavings or any imperfections on the gears. the one peice looked somewhat like a clutch, so i replaced it with another one i had. it still does the same thing. i'm really confused here. if this ends up being the flywheel, i will have to take the engine down to a bare blockto even get to the flywheel. i really did't want to do that(i dont know anyone that would). is there anything else i can try before i jump to the conclusion of something inside the case? and what would cause this so when i fix it it won't happen again? is it a common problem? i woulda thought with so low of hours i would run into problems like this.

[peterock]

Sounds like your one way bearing is done for. Usually there are signs of it failing though and don't just let go.

[wistech]

If Take the starter clutch out and see if you can spin the counterbalance gear in both directions. If it does then you need a new one way bearing. Not a whole lot of cost involved but its a full teardown and crank pull to replace. Ive done that job in about 3 hours .

[cannondale27]

A common cause of this happening is people pull starting the quad.

[jake]

i've never pull started it, so unless the people that had it before me did it, it hasn't been pull-started. the counter balance gear only spins in one direction also. it's really been confusing.