1995 XP starter and/or battery problems

[lbustin]

Guys,

I'm almost at the end of frankensteining a couple of XPs together. I've got everything back together, motor wise. It looks and feels good as far as that goes. Compression is sitting at 139/140.

Now I'm having problems getting the starter to turn the motor over. I bought a new Wal Mart battery. Charged it up and dropped it in. Without the plugs in, it spins the motor just fine. As soon as the plugs are in, it just chugs on trying to get past the compression.

So I read a few posts about how the Wal Mart batteries are not that good, so I returned it and picked up a Die Hard. Got it charged up and it's doing the same thing. I have since cleaned up the battery cables where they terminate on both posts of the battery and to the starter itself. I'm not sure what else it could be. Could it be the actual starter?

Here is a video of what it's doing:
[video=youtube;R7KttPtX_XM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7KttPtX_XM[/video]

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Dr Honda]

If you have a fresh Die-Hard... and the cables are clean... then the starter needs rebuilt. You can get a brush/rebuild kit for about $30. The OEM starter cleaned up is WAY better than any of the aftermarket starters.

 

[lbustin]

Well, I pulled the starter. When I got it on the bench, I noticed that I hadn't cleaned up the black wire on the battery. I cleaned that up. I went ahead and took the starter apart. The brushes didn't look too bad, but I don't know much about starters. Put it all back together and now it's working! I bet it was that one connection on the starter itself.

Now I've got some other issues. I've got spark and compression, but no gas. But, I'm about 99.9% sure it's due to these old grey fuel lines. Going to get those cleaned up in the next day or two. Can I get by with just a good cleaning of the filters in the carbs? Or should I go ahead and get a rebuild kit?

 

[lbustin]

Success! Last night I replaced all the old gray lines, added an inline filter, and cleaned out the carbs and fuel selector switch. That selector was BAD.

Still would fire up. Went to bed last night prepared for a full carb rebuild. This morning I browse the forums and see a thread about the rotary valve being in the wrong way. And I sure put that thing in directly backwards. Swapped it around and voila! Cranked right up!