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I'm hoping you all have some advise.

I just put my 1975 r90/6 back together after a new top end and brand new Valeo starter.

Went to start it and the starter worked for the first 5 minutes.

I tried after a couple minutes of rest and it sounded like the starter bendix/gear was not engaging. Very frustrated, I started to tear everything out starting with the starter...

I tested the starter half way out of the bike and it seemed okay,

I can't tell if the starter is engaging the flywheel teeth.

Is there a modification to the starter or bike I need to do to make this work?

Please find attached pics.

Thank you...

There are two versions out there. Does yours have the same number of teeth on the gear as the one it replaced?

Yes, it has eight. With it installed, it seems to touch the flywheel, but not rotate it. I view the flywheel from the timing hole and it moves slightly when I try to start it... It's like the starter gear is not engaging the flywheel... How can this be? Especially when the bike started 10 minutes before...

EDIT; Sounds like your solenoid isn't working, but the starter is spinning?. I seem to remember Valeos being problematic. It wouldn't be the first time something electronic has failed right out of the box...

Did you count the number of teeth on the drive to make sure that you got what you ordered?

Did you count the teeth on the old starter? Lots of parts get swapped around in old airheads. Someone around here had the later 76 flywheel/ring gear on their 1975 R90, from new.

You can test the starter alone by removing the starter cover and shorting across the two terminals with a screwdriver.

Thanks. I Have the eight tooth in both the stock Bosch starter and the new crappy-Valeo. I hope I can sort this out tomorrow, but ridiculous to think I spent $300 and too much time replacing the Bosch starter whih functioned for 80k miles for one that worked for two starts...geez...

have you checked to see that the engine still turns OK?

Thanks: engine turns freely (thank God)..

I rechecked the starter on the 'bench' a.k.a flipped it over while attached to the bike, and the gear shot out and spun up like I think it's supposed to...

I plugged things back in and retested to see if the starter would spin the flywheel/engine: no go. It just made a horrible loud grinding noise. I made note of the flywheel's position at the 'F' mark. it seems the starter turned the flywheel a couple teeth...

Is it possible the starter is suddenly does not have enough torque to turn the flywheel?

Should I bother opening up the starter? If so, what am I checking for?

I think I will put the original Bosch unit back together and see if that works...

Any other ideas?

Thanks...!

While I can't hear the noise that you report, I would think it most likely that the teeth aren't engaging, so it isn't about torque.

This is why you need to have a few airheads, for swapping the parts around.