Ill make a video first thing in the morning.

 

Ok here's the video. The motorcycle you hear running is a friend of mine who helped me with a running start, started to turn over just a little bit. In this video you can hear how the charging system is weak now. I was surprised while i was filming. Its probably because of the rolling start attempt. The original sound was about 5x louder. I wish i filmed before the rolling start though...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DZsZu0QAM0

 

Whenever I have a weak battery, I get a constant "click click" from the starter solenoid. Even then, my headlights come on and everything else seems normal.

Sounds to me like one of the gears in the starting system has stripped. I've never been inside there personally, but I'm guessing the flywheel has gear teeth all the way around it and the starter motor has a pinion on its shaft. My guess is that one of those has stripped. Or, something has allowed the starter to move away from its ideal location, thereby disengaging the teeth. Does anyone know if it's easy to get in there to have a look-see?

 

Multiple possibilities. I think I agree with Berga. Something is stripped. There is a horrible possibility, and a not so horrible one. The starter uses a planetary geartrain internally, and a small pinion gear on the starter drives a much larger gear that floats directly on the crankshaft of the motor.

Either could be having issues. If the starter is stripped internally, replace it. If something else has gone down outside the starter body itself, bad times.... bad times.... It's hard to hear through the video what I'm sure you can hear in person, but it sure sounds like gear teeth. It might also be a slipping one-way clutch on the gear in the crankshaft.

Take off your seat and gas tank. Two bolts hold the starter to the top of the motor, along with a engine case ground wire. Pull the two bolts out, and slide the starter toward the center of the bike. examine the area where the starter enters the motor for cracked casting, excessive wear, etc. You should now be able to see both the teeth on the starter you just removed and the teeth that it engages with inside the motor. If all looks well, then start pulling the starter apart and see what fun you can find in there.

(EDIT: Just went to the garage and looked, and you'll just need a 10mm socket, a flex joint, and about a foot worth of socket extensions to get it out. Doesn't look too bad. Side fairings may need to get dropped as well. Don't make it make that noise too much more, because little metal "engine snacks" for your motor to much on might end up floating around in there. I've lost an oil pump in the most disturbing way imaginable like that.)

 

Well i went outside to take a look (thanks jimmy for the list) and took out the starter. It didnt look too stripped at first glance but the when i looked closer i could see where the teeth were supposed to be leveled at in the front and rear, followed by the middle that dipped down and was bright silver. wiped it down to find that there were metal "engine snacks" all in the oil which pretty much sealed the deal. Im 99.9% sure ill be up and running once i just replace the starter. Ill keep everyone posted.

 

Let me know your shipping address and what kind of chips you want...

 

Haha. Just knowing that this forum is full of helpful members is better than having chips. I came from an Audi forum and this one is starting to make me feel just as much at home.

 

Glad I could help. One thing to mind, though. If the starter output pinion is stripped, that means it was stripping against something else. The thing that it's stripping against would be the crankshaft driving gear. If I were you, I would pull the stator side cover off and eye around in there for a while. Usually, unless gear center locations are disrupted, gears like that don't just strip. I suspect other foul play. It could have just up an' busted on ya, but something smells funny here.... Of course, when you get it sorted out, I definitely recommend dropping the oil pan and cleaning it out, as a part of the oil change your bike definitely needs to rid itself of metal munchies.

German Engineering In Da Haus, ja. Audi group to the core.

 

Ill check around a little more. An oil change was definitely part of the plan haha. And nice wheels. I had a Stage 2 B5 S4 a while back that i recently got rid of.

 

Just looked around. Here are my findings.

Here are the stripped teeth from the starter to begin with:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEzxwFrf9M4

And here is the culprit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKvSGpCb3hI

Why it happened? I have no idea. But FML that i have to buy 2 new parts and i only bought the bike and rode it on wednesday. Just like my S4 all over again!!!!