This past weekend a good friend came up to camp so we could do some snowmobiling. We've not ridden together in about 12 years. It was good to be back on the trails again..
In the fall his 16 year old 18k mile Nippondenso stater would not start his machine without making lots of noise. I told him I could rebuild it for next to nothing but he declined and bought a "brand new" starter off Amazon after I flat out told him not to.. The factory SkiDoo starter is something like $390.00.. He paid $65.00 so he thought he got a good deal. He probably made 60 starts with since it was installed and it worked, but like many of these cheap knock-off components, not for long.....
On Saturday, his good deal, Chinese starter, turned into a very bad deal. About 45 miles from camp and 12 miles from the nearest road, we stopped to see if we could get some Canada Jay's to eat out of our hands, and they did. The North woods of Maine are great for this...
When we got back on the machines he fired his up first and it sounded awful. I waived to him to shut it down. He turned the key off and the motor kept cranking.... Oh $hit..... He kept trying the key and nothing would disengage the starter. We cycled the key over 100 times, tried the kill switch, the tether and every other possible scenario. The starter still remained engaged.
Unlike boats, the batteries on snowmobiles do not have any fuses or switches. They are simply direct wired to the starter motor. His battery is so buried that it was not even feasible or safe to unbolt the positive or negative with the motor running.
After a few minutes the starter motor began smoking and the starter cable too. At that point I pulled out my Leatherman and we decided to cut the starter excite wire, a 50/50 chance at killing the starter. It was too dangerous to get a screw-driver in there to un-bolt it. I cut the excite wire, and then...... it kept right on cranking. D'oh....
The solenoid was not letting go no matter what we tried.. He could not ride the machine this way, we had no wire cutter big enough to cut the 6GA wire, and there was nowhere safe enough to do it without directly shorting something.
The decision was made and he hit the kill switch and let it destroy his new AGM battery.. Unfortunately, by the time the battery died the starter was smoking so bad we thought the machine may catch fire. Once it cooled off we were able to get at the battery and disconnect it from the starter as it died still engaged. We then had to pull off the starter, and with minimal tools this, took nearly 1.5 hours. Can you say cooooold fingers.....?
Once the starter was out we tried to pull start the machine but it was a no go because it was so flooded. We pulled the plugs, pulled it over a few times with the plugs out, then replaced them. Still too flooded. I pulled out my spare plugs and they fit. After nearly breaking our backs attempting to pull start this beast it fired up but then backfired so hard, exhaust was full of fuel, it literally blew the exhaust springs right off the manifold. Ok, now we're screwed, both springs were toast and the donut that goes between the pipe and manifold was gone perhaps lost in 3.5' of snow....
At this point it was getting dark so I pulled out the tow strap and towed his machine the 12 miles back to the nearest road. Then two middle aged fat guys rode nearly 35 miles back to camp stuffing our kidneys into our throats with every bump. We then hopped in his pickup truck to drive 65 road miles to collect his machine. About two thirds of the way into the ride to fetch his machine he looked over and said "I promise I'll buy the factory starter this time.". "I looked at him and said "It's gonna cost you a bit more than that, I drink Don Julio."...
His "big savings" cost him:
Flywheel destroyed $$$$$$
Battery cables melted $$$
AGM Battery $$$$
Exhaust repair $$
& he owes me a $90.00 belt which got toasted towing him out...
He will be installing an accessible switch in his engine compartment as will I, quality Nippondenso starter or not.......
If this had been a boat the simple flip of a switch would have de-powered the starter motor. This is but one reason why battery switches are smart & safe ideas!!
P.S. The worst part of this is that he threw away a $400.00 Nippondenso starter I can rebuild for about $45.00 in parts... Ouch....
In the fall his 16 year old 18k mile Nippondenso stater would not start his machine without making lots of noise. I told him I could rebuild it for next to nothing but he declined and bought a "brand new" starter off Amazon after I flat out told him not to.. The factory SkiDoo starter is something like $390.00.. He paid $65.00 so he thought he got a good deal. He probably made 60 starts with since it was installed and it worked, but like many of these cheap knock-off components, not for long.....
On Saturday, his good deal, Chinese starter, turned into a very bad deal. About 45 miles from camp and 12 miles from the nearest road, we stopped to see if we could get some Canada Jay's to eat out of our hands, and they did. The North woods of Maine are great for this...
When we got back on the machines he fired his up first and it sounded awful. I waived to him to shut it down. He turned the key off and the motor kept cranking.... Oh $hit..... He kept trying the key and nothing would disengage the starter. We cycled the key over 100 times, tried the kill switch, the tether and every other possible scenario. The starter still remained engaged.
Unlike boats, the batteries on snowmobiles do not have any fuses or switches. They are simply direct wired to the starter motor. His battery is so buried that it was not even feasible or safe to unbolt the positive or negative with the motor running.
After a few minutes the starter motor began smoking and the starter cable too. At that point I pulled out my Leatherman and we decided to cut the starter excite wire, a 50/50 chance at killing the starter. It was too dangerous to get a screw-driver in there to un-bolt it. I cut the excite wire, and then...... it kept right on cranking. D'oh....
The solenoid was not letting go no matter what we tried.. He could not ride the machine this way, we had no wire cutter big enough to cut the 6GA wire, and there was nowhere safe enough to do it without directly shorting something.
The decision was made and he hit the kill switch and let it destroy his new AGM battery.. Unfortunately, by the time the battery died the starter was smoking so bad we thought the machine may catch fire. Once it cooled off we were able to get at the battery and disconnect it from the starter as it died still engaged. We then had to pull off the starter, and with minimal tools this, took nearly 1.5 hours. Can you say cooooold fingers.....?
Once the starter was out we tried to pull start the machine but it was a no go because it was so flooded. We pulled the plugs, pulled it over a few times with the plugs out, then replaced them. Still too flooded. I pulled out my spare plugs and they fit. After nearly breaking our backs attempting to pull start this beast it fired up but then backfired so hard, exhaust was full of fuel, it literally blew the exhaust springs right off the manifold. Ok, now we're screwed, both springs were toast and the donut that goes between the pipe and manifold was gone perhaps lost in 3.5' of snow....
At this point it was getting dark so I pulled out the tow strap and towed his machine the 12 miles back to the nearest road. Then two middle aged fat guys rode nearly 35 miles back to camp stuffing our kidneys into our throats with every bump. We then hopped in his pickup truck to drive 65 road miles to collect his machine. About two thirds of the way into the ride to fetch his machine he looked over and said "I promise I'll buy the factory starter this time.". "I looked at him and said "It's gonna cost you a bit more than that, I drink Don Julio."...
His "big savings" cost him:
Flywheel destroyed $$$$$$
Battery cables melted $$$
AGM Battery $$$$
Exhaust repair $$
& he owes me a $90.00 belt which got toasted towing him out...
He will be installing an accessible switch in his engine compartment as will I, quality Nippondenso starter or not.......
If this had been a boat the simple flip of a switch would have de-powered the starter motor. This is but one reason why battery switches are smart & safe ideas!!
P.S. The worst part of this is that he threw away a $400.00 Nippondenso starter I can rebuild for about $45.00 in parts... Ouch....