Best way to remove starter 318 newbie question 67 cuda

-
Badfish1

Badfish1

Active Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2015
Messages
40
Reaction score
4
Location
oklahoma
Don't really know if its my starter or solenoid? Sometimes when I go to start car it just whines and doesn't turn car over. Then once it stops hit the key again and it will engage. Starting to get on my nerves. Any tips would be greatly appreciated also any tips on getting to the top starter nut. Thanks again
 
throw a starter in it. Two bolts hold it in, and two nuts for the wires. Drive the car up on ramps. A) disconnect the battery cable. B). Unloosen the two cable nuts that connect the wires to the starter. C). take out the two big bolts that hold the starter in. Reverse for the installation. Now if your car has headers, could be a little different tactic
 
so it spins but doesnt engage the ring gear? your built in solenoid is probably sticking. You can rehab it or toss it and get a Dakota (RAM) mini starter and be years ahead.
01.gif
 
Thanks for the tips. Thinking its more the solenoid, once it engages its all good. What is involved in rebuilding the solenoid? Also if I was to buy new starter what would be a good choice. Thanks
 
Forget "rebuilding" and this is coming from a guy who at one time "would have" and "did." Do yourself a huge favor, buy a rebuilt and ask for a 90's 5.2 or 5.9 Ram / Dakota. This is what's commonly known as a "mini starter" and they work way better and weigh about 1/2 as much

You don't have headers on your car? then easy. Unhook the battery ground cable. Most of these are 5/8" socket, you need either a box end for the top one, or a long extension and ratchet to reach "over the top" of the starter.
 
And the part thats bad is/was/used to be, called the bendex. It has a one-way clutch in it, that likes to stick when it gets dirty or worn out. It engages the ring gear but fails to transmit the starter torque to it,cause the clutch is on vacation. The bendex is cheap, but hard to replace. And if the starter is old enough to slip the clutch, its gonna need other repairs too.
Like already said, trade it in for the the mity mini.

And 67 is right on as to removing the top bolt.Actually his entire post is right-on, as usual.
Okay, just ignore me. Nobody has called me a post-***** yet. I guesssss thats a good sign
 
The electrical wires take a 11/32" and 1/2" hex sockets.

The bolts for the starter should be 5/8" or 9/16"hex.

You may have to turn the steering a little to make a larger hole to get the starter out through the steering linkages...

Don't forget to disconnect the battery negative cable before starting on the power wires at the starter...
 
Also, it's a lot easier to disconnect and reconnect the electrical leads on the starter itself with the starter unbolted and lowered out of the way or ''hanging''.
Make sure you clean all electrical contact areas with a wire brush before reinstalling it.
Going with a mini starter from a newer Dakota or Ram is much better than the older gear reduction styles.
Make sure you disconnect the negative post on the battery before you do anything!
 
terzmo said:
disconnect the battery positive first
Click to expand...

The "go to" method is to always disconnect the GROUND.

WHY? Why does it matter? Simple. It's very easy to slip with a wrench on the positive, and do some unintentional welding.

.........AND........this reminds me......
 
67Dart273 said:
The "go to" method is to always disconnect the GROUND.

WHY? Why does it matter? Simple. It's very easy to slip with a wrench on the positive, and do some unintentional welding.

.........AND........this reminds me......
Click to expand...

You have to be kidding ? If you take the ground off the battery,you can ground power yourself under the car when removing the starter..by removing the positive AT the battery,you have no way to ground power anywhere under the car
 
terzmo said:
You have to be kidding ? If you take the ground off the battery,you can ground power yourself under the car when removing the starter..by removing the positive AT the battery,you have no way to ground power anywhere under the car
Click to expand...

If you take the ground (or the positive for that matter) off the battery, there will be no power to anything.
Disconnect ONE of the battery clamp leads and the car is dead electrically.
The ground clamp is the one disconnected usually in case the wrench slips and will cause sparking, which is not good around a battery that emits hydrogen gas as a byproduct of charging.
Think about it.
 
Dartnut said:
If you take the ground (or the positive for that matter) off the battery, there will be no power to anything.
Disconnect ONE of the battery clamp leads and the car is dead electrically.
The ground clamp is the one disconnected usually in case the wrench slips and will cause sparking, which is not good around a battery that emits hydrogen gas as a byproduct of charging.
Think about it.
Click to expand...


if you leave the pos on at the battery,as stated before,the pos potential is still at the starter and a wrench or whatever can ground it and spark/weld/scare the hell out of a person. Do it your way,and good luck. I'll do it the way I've done for almost 50 years.
 
terzmo said:
if you leave the pos on at the battery,as stated before,the pos potential is still at the starter and a wrench or whatever can ground it and spark/weld/scare the hell out of a person. Do it your way,and good luck. I'll do it the way I've done for almost 50 years.
Click to expand...

Look, i don't need to argue with you.
Disconnect both posts on the battery if it pleases you.
For that matter, disconnect all of the batteries in all the vehicles around a one mile radius of you and unscrew all the light bulbs in the houses if that makes you feel safer.
I guess the FSM is wrong and my over 40 years of experience is flawed.
However, if the wiring in the car is flawed, there might be a capacitor that discharges when you do wiring jobs that is unrelated to the battery even being hooked up.
So, with your theory, if you disconnect the pos post and leave the neg post hooked up, the same thing could happen? Sparking at the terminals?
Okey dokey.
Disconnect the neg terminal at the battery, isolate it, then try to turn the starter over.
I bet it won't. I'll bet nothing else works on the car electrically either.
Same goes if you disconnect the pos post instead and isolate it.
Power has to come from somewhere to make a spark in the electrical system.
Either stored in a capacitor, or live from a power source..... (a battery)
Makes sense now?
 
Dartnut said:
Look, i don't need to argue with you.
Disconnect both posts on the battery if it pleases you.
For that matter, disconnect all of the batteries in all the vehicles around a one mile radius of you and unscrew all the light bulbs in the houses if that makes you feel safer.
I guess the FSM is wrong and my over 40 years of experience is flawed.
However, if the wiring in the car is flawed, there might be a capacitor that discharges when you do wiring jobs that is unrelated to the battery even being hooked up.
So, with your theory, if you disconnect the pos post and leave the neg post hooked up, the same thing could happen? Sparking at the terminals?
Okey dokey.
Disconnect the neg terminal at the battery, isolate it, then try to turn the starter over.
I bet it won't. I'll bet nothing else works on the car electrically either.
Same goes if you disconnect the pos post instead and isolate it.
Power has to come from somewhere to make a spark in the electrical system.
Either stored in a capacitor, or live from a power source..... (a battery)
Makes sense now?
Click to expand...

Disconnect the neg terminal at the battery, isolate it, then try to turn the starter over.
I bet it won't. I'll bet nothing else works on the car electrically either.

of course it won't but anyone with electrical knowlege knows if you have 12 volts at the starter and touch it to ground through a wrench/screwdriver....you conduct current...by disconnecting the pos at the battery...there is no way current can conduct by grounding anything....do it your way and touch the pos connector on the starter to the frame or other metal that is grounded...you're a hard headed funny guy
 
Removed starter and had it rebuilt. The guy does awesome work here. Bendix and Solenoid for 50 bucks. Put here back in and started on 2nd try. Man that top bolt is a burger. Thanks for all the help and by the way I just disconnected both negative and positive cables. Didn't mean to start a argument. LOL
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top