The starter is probably full of oil.
The counter balancer is vented through a hole in the left case into a void in the bottom of the cylinder which in turn connects through a hole into the stator area. If the oil is overfilled or an aftermarket cylinder base gasket is used which does not have the baffles of the OEM gasket, oil will migrate through these holes. The starter ring gear then pumps the oil into the electric starter. Sometimes it can just be drained out and a rebuild kit with brushes and such installed.
The manual states to pull the driven clutch and the brake disk. I feel it is easier to just pull the engine. You pull the engine out through where the seat is. Since you just got the machine, I would pull the engine anyway and do a leak down test. Old, dried out and leaking crank seals are common with the age of the machine. Pulling the head and inspecting the bore would probably be a good idea too.
