Only my 3rd trip out in my MK Indy with its new engine and I had my 1st breakdown of the year.

I stop for petrol on my way to work Saturday morning. When I tried to restart there was a horrible grinding noise then nothing. Didn't really know what to do for the best so I pushed the car out of the way and started the short walk to work.

After work I took the trunk and trailer to collect the car and try to find out what happened.

It didn't take long to find the problem. I started by taking the starter idler gear cover off. I found the teeth had been striped off the starter and 2 teeth off the starter gear.


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After doing some reading on the internet I think I was fairly lucky. This is a common problem on early Hayabusa engines before a modified starter gear was fitted. I'm told that the engine case can crack when this happens but all that seems fine.

Any body suggest the best place to get a new starter and modified idler gear?

Had the same thing happen to me after car sat for a while, apparently down to low battery voltage on starting.
Worth stripping all the covers off and inspect the cases as there has been a few who have had damaged engine cases. Was lucky with mine as only cracked the larger starter cover, starter motor and gear was fcukd.
I upgraded to the later model(03 onward) starter gear system. Had to strip sump off and clean all the swarf out along with new oil and filter but all sorted now,not cheap but piece of mind now.