RZR Starter Maintenance

My factory starter lasted about 3700 miles. It never failed just started dragging a little. I replaced it with an after market one from JBS. Just hit 5000 miles this past weekend at the Spring Ride. After the ride on Friday I went down to wash the RZR and it would not start at all. I had my old one but got another new one from James. When I took out the starter, I could not even get it to turn with a battery booster, tried to turn it with pliers.

Well I decided to take them apart and check things out. Pretty nasty in there. I am going to get rebuild kits for them.

I would say to everyone to maybe take your starter out from time to time and re grease the O rings.

The pic on the right is the factory Polaris, the one on the left is the aftermarket.

Kev!!

So, the problem with the starters most of the time is mud/water getting past the o rings?

I have 2500 miles on mine now. Maybe I will pull it off and check it out a little.

I wonder if spraying water up around it to clean up is causing more problems than the mudholes and creek crossings? Maybe the pressure from the garden hose/pressure washer is getting through those o-rings. May have nothing to do with it, just a thought.

I agree with you on going with the rebuild kit Kevin. If you already have two starters, may as well save the money by going with the rebuild and have the spare in your trailer. They are going to take a dump anyway, so no reason to pay alot for a new one.

Hump wrote:

So, the problem with the starters most of the time is mud/water getting past the o rings?

I have 2500 miles on mine now. Maybe I will pull it off and check it out a little.

I wonder if spraying water up around it to clean up is causing more problems than the mudholes and creek crossings? Maybe the pressure from the garden hose/pressure washer is getting through those o-rings. May have nothing to do with it, just a thought.

I agree with you on going with the rebuild kit Kevin. If you already have two starters, may as well save the money by going with the rebuild and have the spare in your trailer. They are going to take a dump anyway, so no reason to pay alot for a new one.

The bearing in the end gets froze up. And the Brushes do wear out over time. This was the first time it happened for me, But I know there have been many others. Hot Rod has a good price on the starters if you need one. I think when Rharrah's starter went out at Ashland, if cost him about 500 bucks in Princeton to keep riding the weekend......

So take care of your starters or have a spare so it don't ruin your weekend.........

Thanks for the info...

Basically, the same thing happened to mine too. Yes, it was $500 & a full day downtime waiting on them to get a starter. That dealer did not have a starter in stock but had a newer Rzr that had a trashed engine that they took the starter off of and sold it as new.

The price was high but the cost of getting there & not being able to ride would of been higher otherwise.....