Starter issue

[CamH]

Hey guys, my starter went dead in my car so I replaced it with another starter that fellow member Doc Hawk had sitting around. Now with the new starter, sometimes it seems like it's not fully engaging the flywheel because I can hear it spinning (no grinding or anything) but it never catches. After a few tries, it catches and the car starts up wonderfully.

 

I'm wondering if this is indicative of a bad starter or if there was something I needed to do to it before putting in to make it work perfectly. Does anyone know?

 

 

Thanks

Cam

[mario_82_ZXT]

The bendix is probably full of grime and old grease. They're easy to take apart and repack and clean everything for a smooth working starter.

 

Mario

[Doc Hawk]

Nice troubleshoot, Mario! Cameron, to flesh out that answer, here's the gist of it:

 

The Bendix is a spring-loaded shaft and gear assembly. When the ignition switch is placed in the start position, the starter spins at a high rate of speed. Centrifugal force moves the bendix forward and engages the flywheel teeth. If the bendix breaks, either it won't go forward at all, or worse yet it won't retract. Since you have an intermittent problem instead of a full fault condition, it's likely that the assembly is mucked up and needs cleaning and re-greasing, rather than being broken.

 

A nice illustration of the bendix is included at http://www.indiacar.com/infobank/battery1_od.htm

 

If you want to do a poor-man's fix, you could probably get away with spraying some penetrating oil down the shaft and twirling it to get it distributed. Best long term fix is to tear it down, clean it out, and re-grease it.

 

Hope this helps,

David