Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

Hi all! So last post I made was about trouble shooting my carb. It was flooding, I got it to not flood and actually took it out for a ride. It sounded fine, even after I had my fender bender with it.

I left home for a few days, came back, and now it won't start. Not Even turn over. Before it would turn over but not stay idling unless I gave it throttle. Which I did and after a good ride it ran smoothly.


Now, I start it and it definitely sounds like the starter. It just clicks and whines instead of starting. And on top of that a grinding sound will happen too. It sounds like a broken tooth on the starter.

My boyfriends room mate had a starter problem recently and she'd hit her starter to get the car to turn over. My mom's car had a bad starter on it two years ago and this sounds like the same sort of noise. so I'm basing my guess off what I've already seen.

I wonder if this is because the scooter fell over in the fender bender? Could a hard enough hit make this happen?


But I think it had this problem before I bought it. Anyway, it clicks and whines, won't turn over, and sometimes a jamming metal crunch sound happens. Just sounds awful.

I'll upload a video tomorrow so I can show you guys the sound. It's night time right now over here.

You definitely don't want to whack the starter like many of us have done with an old car. That prehistoric trick is only helpful if your starter motor is going bad and you need to get to the parts store since it only works a handful of times before it croaks completely. Your issue is between the bendix and the flywheel. Two sets of teeth that only mesh when you push the "start" button and otherwise do not touch. You should take your belt cover off and inspect the teeth on both to check for wear. Also check the gear mesh between the starter motor and the bendix. Those teeth are much smaller.