Starter Issues..........need help

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1970BBDart

1970BBDart

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On my '70 BB the starter went out on me about a week ago. Drove it to the store, walked inside for about 15 min and when I came back the car wouldn't start. Only a clicking noise from the starter itself when it tried to engage the ring gear. Bought a new mini starter from the local MPP dealer today and put it on, tried to start it and had the same deal, its throwing the pinion forward into the ring gear but no start. Bypassed all the wiring by jumping the two terminals on the starter, same thing. getting full power and everything else checks out. :dontknow: Any ideas guys?
 
I would make sure battery is fully charged, and cables and connections are good and not corroded. Sounds like you are not getting full amount of voltage to starter.
 
Bad teeth on the ring gear could cause that. I used to see it a lot on older DT466 internationals. Took a few starter swaps to figure it out. See if you can turn it over with the inspection cover off and inspect all your teeth.
 
What kind of compression are you running? The mini starters can turn over I believe a 18:1 compression motor. I was just kind of joking. Enough voltage, and fly wheel teeth is a good call by the others.
 
Compression is around 9 - 10.5:1, Voltage and teeth on the ring gear appear to be fine, swapped my battery for a known good one and same results. I have noticed that there is no voltage drop when the key is held. Is there any reason the starter would suddenly stop engaging the ring gear? or fail to send the bendix far forward enough to engage the contacts that send power to the starter motor?
 
ok you said in your first post that the pioion is throwing out into the torque converter/flywheel but the motor is not turning over. Are you sure that it is throwing out properly and aligning up with the teeth? If it wasn't catching the teeth then the starte would free wheel. Did you have the car towed? Have you tried turning the motor over by hand?
 
One of 2 things I suspect. First the obvious like was asked, can you turn the engine over by hand on the crank pulley and it's not seized. Number 2 is so you got good voltage but do you have good amperage cuss it's the amps that turn the starter once it's engaged to the ring gear. Simple test is jack the front of the car up and get underneath, disconnect the cable that allready goes from the car battery through the soldnoid to the starter, get a known good battery and place it beside the front tire, and get a big set of jumper cables, connect the negative on battery to the ground on the starter then go from positive of battery to positive terminal of starter. You may have a corroded positive or ground cable or bad ground and you'll still get 13 volts to the starter just not enough amps to do the work of rolling the engine over.

Terry
 
mullinax95 said:
ok you said in your first post that the pioion is throwing out into the torque converter/flywheel but the motor is not turning over. Are you sure that it is throwing out properly and aligning up with the teeth? If it wasn't catching the teeth then the starte would free wheel. Did you have the car towed? Have you tried turning the motor over by hand?
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Starter does not freewheel, from waht I can tell it sounds like its throwing out properly just not doing anything after that, and the motor will turn over by hand.
 
demon seed said:
One of 2 things I suspect. First the obvious like was asked, can you turn the engine over by hand on the crank pulley and it's not seized. Number 2 is so you got good voltage but do you have good amperage cuss it's the amps that turn the starter once it's engaged to the ring gear. Simple test is jack the front of the car up and get underneath, disconnect the cable that allready goes from the car battery through the soldnoid to the starter, get a known good battery and place it beside the front tire, and get a big set of jumper cables, connect the negative on battery to the ground on the starter then go from positive of battery to positive terminal of starter. You may have a corroded positive or ground cable or bad ground and you'll still get 13 volts to the starter just not enough amps to do the work of rolling the engine over.

Terry
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Engine turns over by hand, I did connect power straight to the starter (same thing happens), I will double check the cables but it wont be till monday (working fri, sat, and sunday) I guess I will also pull the starter back off and have it tested to eliminate the possibility of a bad new starter. (although I'd rather take a beating before wrestling the starter through those damn BB headers again :banghead:
 
It sounds to me too like a bad connection or cable. its going to probably be either the heavy positive cable or the ground. like demon said the starter won't work without the needed amps.
 
is the battery in the boot?

if so there are a few guys who needed to run a ground cable to the starter then to the body at the front to make sure the current is reaching the engine. voltage is one thing, but you need current to turn the motor and with a bad ground...you are not getting it.
 
I will rewire the complete starter circuit (and grounds) on monday and let everyone know what the outcome is. I really do appreciate the suggestions and ideas from you all. :thumbup:
 
My battery is in the trunk and I have a mini starter. I installled a ground from the motor to the frame. It's good to have a ground you might want to get one. The motor being a big block the is going to need all the help it can get far as amps concern.
 
1970BBDart said:
Engine turns over by hand, I did connect power straight to the starter (same thing happens), I will double check the cables but it wont be till monday (working fri, sat, and sunday) I guess I will also pull the starter back off and have it tested to eliminate the possibility of a bad new starter. (although I'd rather take a beating before wrestling the starter through those damn BB headers again :banghead:
Click to expand...

When I was in auto shop class they told us to ALWAYS check to be sure a starter works before you install it. I forgot about that, but after ONE time of R & R'ing a starter that was bad I learned my lesson. It's that good old thing of "Knowledge is knowing that fire will burn, wisdom is remembering the blister." :-D Hope you get it figured out.
 
Got everything back apart today. Tested the starter, it was fine. I replaced any wire or wiring that had anything to do with the starter, after which it cranked like there was never anything wrong. Confused but happy to have the old girl rolling again. Thanks for all the help guys!
 
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