Labor

[1200man]

Can anyone give me an ideal how much it would cost to get a new starter installed in a 89 FJ1200?

Thanks,
1200man

[movenon]

Can anyone give me an ideal how much it would cost to get a new starter installed in a 89 FJ1200?

Thanks,
1200man

Easy to do your self but if you have a shop do it then it would take about 30 min to do.  Most shops probably have a hour min ? I assume you have the starter?
If not check the price out at RPM's site. http://www.rpmracingca.com/proddetail.asp?prod=Electrical%3AStarter.
George

[Capn Ron]

Assuming you already have the starter...as George pointed out, Randy can hook you up on that end...I put the cost of installation, testing and cleanup at exactly three beers.   

Cap'n Ron. . .

[Bill_Rockoff]

I am even slower at drinking beer than I am at fixing motorcycles, so for me it's about 0.5 beers, or 1.0 hours.

However, unless you are the sort of person whose "tools" reside in a kitchen drawer, it will be faster for you to do this yourself than to ride the motorcycle to your dealership.  I just did this Friday afternoon.  I initially thought "two 8mm bolts hold it in, and one 10mm nut holds on the +12v wire - five minutes tops!" but it takes a bit of doing to get the starter out and to get that 10mm nut off the starter.  Seriously, about an hour from clean hands to clean hands again.

Here are the steps:

1) Disconnect battery at the negative terminal (10mm socket)
2) Remove the 10mm bolt from the shift linkage and slide the linkage off the splined shifter shaft, leaving it dangling from the shift lever
3) Remove the three 8mm bolts holding the clutch slave cylinder assembly onto the countershaft sprocket cover, leaving it dangling by the clutch line
4) Remove the three 8mm bolts holding the countershaft sprocket cover onto the engine, so that you can
5) slide the cover over the splined shifter shaft to remove it from the bike

- Steps 2, 3, 4, and 5 are necessary because this cover would be in your way trying to slide the starters between the frame and the engine -

6) Remove the three 8mm nuts holding the alternator cover in place, and remove the alternator cover (this would also be in the way of the starter)
7) Remove the left side body panel (no tools, you just pull it) so that you can then
8 ) Remove the air intake snorkel (three Phillips-head screws) so that you can then
9) Disconnect the starter lead (big red wire) from the solenoid behind the battery, so that it has slack to move with the starter
10) Disconnect any connectors for the wires that are there in your way, where the intake snorkel goes
11) Remove the two 8mm bolts holding the starter in place
12) Slide the starter out.  I grabbed the starter by the bolt holes, using two pair of needle nose pliers, and wiggled the starter free, and then tapped it with a long punch from the right-hand side of the bike.  Someone with the right picks could probably do it more elegantly
13) As soon as you can reach it to get a 10mm open- or box-end wrench on it, remove the nut that holds the starter lead (big red wire) onto the starter, and disconnect the starter lead from the starter
14) Wriggle the starter out from between the engine and the frame

Reassembly is, as they say, the opposite of disassembly.  I put the starter back in place and reconnected the starter lead, and then fastened the starter in with its mounting bolts, and then reconnected the other end of the starter lead to the solenoid.  

Probably a full 1/8 of my hour was spent trying to convince myself, "I don't really need to remove the sprocket / alternator covers, do I?  Surely there has to be a way to.... No, no, it has to come out, doesn't it?"  Probably just as much time was spent tightening the starter lead back to the new starter, half a flat at a time, with my no-name box-end wrench.  Probably another 1/8 of the time was spent bleeding the clutch after the slave cylinder had dangled there at the end of the clutch line for a while.

Good luck!

[FJ_Hooligan]

Excellent instructions Bill!  I would only add remove BOTH leads from the battery.  I know my negative lead has a habit (memory) of flopping back toward the negative post of the battery whenever I disconnect it (since that's where it's lived all these decades). 

It would be bad if the positive starter lead was still connected to the battery and just happened to be laying on the frame when the negative lead pops back and gets contact with the negative terminal on the battery.

Also, I would recommend a new o-ring on the starter.

[Bill_Rockoff]

Mine flops around and tries to return home too, but I'm pretty sure(*) that the starter lead is only hot when you push the button. 

So if your negative battery wire accidentally found its way back to the battery terminal, AND your key was on, AND the bike was in Neutral or the clutch lever was pulled in, yeah, you could have a problem.

(*) I still unhooked the starter lead from the solenoid, so if it hit the frame at the other end on its way out of the bike it still wouldn't have mattered.

The new 4-brush starter came with an o-ring already in place. 

[FJ_Hooligan]

You're right Bill!

I was thinking auto wiring in my mind where the positive lead is hot down to the starter solenoid.  On the FJ it is protected by the starter relay as you describe.

Carry on...