A theoretical analysis has been carried out to study the capacitive effect and life estimation of hydrodynamic journal bearings on repeated starts and stops of a machine operating under the influence of shaft voltages. The analysis gives the time required for the charge accumulation and increase of charge with time on the liner surface of a journal bearing based on bearing capacitance, resistance of film thickness, and the shaft voltage. Also, it investigates the effect of gradual leakage of the accumulated charges with time as the shaft voltage falls when the power supply to the machine is switched off. This paper gives an approach to determine the ratio of the number of shaft revolutions required for charge accumulation and gradual discharge of the accumulated charges on the liner surface of a bearing depending on bearing-to-shaft voltage. Also, the number of repeated starts and stops before initiation of craters on the liner surface of a hydrodynamic journal bearing is established to restrict deterioration and damage of the liner. The diagnosis has the potential to study the transient effect of the shaft voltages on a journal bearing during the start and stop cycle of a machine.Presented as a Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers paper at the STLE/ASME Tribology Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, October 24–27, 1993