Listen to everyone else, good suggestions – I’ve had this issue countless times. Generally it’s because the rope snapped at some point and some DIY tried fixing it but did it wrong. Pull the rope all the way out and see how much you have, if it’s over 4-5 feet it’s too much and you can cut the slack. The service manuals do a good job of explaining how to fix this, but the two most important details is getting the right length and making sure the spinning part/carousel is lined up with the arrow once retracted. If it isn’t, even if it’s off by an inch, the pawl won’t move out and grab the flywheel the right way and this is quite annoying. Also a great way to break the pawl in a hurry, especially for people who don’t know how to properly use the manual starter in the first place.
As everyone else said, make sure the pawl and butterfly looking spring which wraps around the center dowel is lubed up well. I usually just soak the whole thing down with PB-Blaster and pull it over a few times. If the rope is right and the starter was wound correctly when repaired, that usually fixes everything. Otherwise get ready to do a minor repair (it’s not that hard, you can do it with a manual).
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