Bump the motor to start

Problem Solved!! Jaq and Turbo200R4 were dang near spot on, mine had a slight twist. It was the cable from the battery, however mine was the Positive connection, at the battery. I just came back from a run to STL and no starting issues. I had been cleaning connections then installing star washers under the Neg cable connectors to ensure a good solid connection. No help, still acted up. So, cleaned again and a star washer under the Positive cable. Done deal, no issue. I now think I can rationalize the 'bumping' of the engine, I was moving the pistons just enough to either dump compression or move one past TDC and it was easier for the reduced voltage to spin the starter.
I thanks everyone for their suggestions, life is good again.

mully95 said:

Well I did the starter/ground wire upgrade today. I went with 4 ga wire for both..... the ground and the positive wire to the starter. I was taught while doing car audio you want to have the same size positive wire with the same size ground wire so that's what I did.

Click to expand...

Quoted from:
Starter/Ground Cable Upgrade Resource

I am writing the final (I HOPE) chapter to this saga, the cables were NOT the final solution. I have just installed a new starter motor and it spins perfectly again. Needless to say, the larger cables did not solve the problem, within 2 weeks it was back to the same old intermittent no spin issue. I reread the threads on the replacement starter and 4 days ago ordered a starter to fit the 99 Solara. It arrived 3 hrs ago and I pulled the starter out of the Rocket. Swapping the starter motor was easy, the rubber vent/drain needed changing along with the longer motor retaining bolts. Back in it went and wow, does the motor spin over right now! I ordered off e3ay, $50 included shipping, I do not think I could have had mine checked for that, and it is the larger 1.4. So, short of replacing the complete Rocket, which I am not ready to do, fingers crossed and the problem is solved.

Mike said:

I am writing the final (I HOPE) chapter to this saga, the cables were NOT the final solution. I have just installed a new starter motor and it spins perfectly again. Needless to say, the larger cables did not solve the problem, within 2 weeks it was back to the same old intermittent no spin issue. I reread the threads on the replacement starter and 4 days ago ordered a starter to fit the 99 Solara. It arrived 3 hrs ago and I pulled the starter out of the Rocket. Swapping the starter motor was easy, the rubber vent/drain needed changing along with the longer motor retaining bolts. Back in it went and wow, does the motor spin over right now! I ordered off e3ay, $50 included shipping, I do not think I could have had mine checked for that, and it is the larger 1.4. So, short of replacing the complete Rocket, which I am not ready to do, fingers crossed and the problem is solved.

Click to expand...

Was that $50 price for a used or remanufactured/rebuilt one?

That was for a brand new one. You end up tossing 60% of the starter as the gear housing and such is incorrect, but the motor is brand new and that to me was the important part.

Mike said:

That was for a brand new one. You end up tossing 60% of the starter as the gear housing and such is incorrect, but the motor is brand new and that to me was the important part.

Click to expand...

How difficult was the change over to do? Also any tricks to doing the change over?

Mike said:

That was for a brand new one. You end up tossing 60% of the starter as the gear housing and such is incorrect, but the motor is brand new and that to me was the important part.

Click to expand...

can you copy n paste link to which seller you found that through?

Been a busy week and just now getting back to this side of life I did ride up to the J&P open house this morning, annual event at the main store in Anamosa, Ia, always fun to visit and I picked up a new helmet and gloves. Sale prices and many Harleys. I was not even off the Rocket when I had Harley riders coming over to chat about the bike. One even took a picture. Talked the Rocket up and tried to not bash the Harleys. Good time.
However...The starter change over is simple, allow an hour for the job plus a beer. The 1.4 motor is about 3/4 of an inch longer than my stock one was, disconnect the wire and remove the 2 screws holding the motor in place, do the same to the new motor but USE the new motors screws. The new starter did not come with the rubber drain/vent tube so remove the cover and use the original tube. I found you can not just pull the old tube out, pull the cover and squeeze the clips to remove, push the tube into the new cover.
As to the vender, I used E3AY and did a search for starter for a 99 Solara then looked for the 1.4 rating. I happened to use starterspecialist, from USA but not certain where. They worked for me. I wonder what they thought when I used feedback to tell them the Triumph works just fine. Mostly driven by price, a couple lower and more higher, $ 50 seemed fair. Starter still spinning properly as of a bit ago, so far, so good.