Thread: starter troubles

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ok so i replaced the starter on my small block about 3 wks ago. now it was working great until one day... just a click well i fiddled with wires and still nothing happened. pushed the car out of the spot to bump-start it but before i pushed forward again i figured id try it one more time... and this time it worked. brought it home parked it and it started again. later that day it just clicked again then started a few hrs later. so the selinoid is engaging just not spinning the motor. should i return it or look for something i may be able to fix. its a pawermaster starter. thanx for any help you might offer.

I back Denny on this one. Solenoids are a consistent problem on rebuilt starters. They're rarely replaced and the contacts take a beating everytime the solenoid is activated. Once they're beaten enough, the temperature of the housing can keep them from working. Let a hot engine sit, and when it cools down the starter starts working again.

sounds what the problem is... loose contacts inside tend to do that... i used to have an 87 mustang with a junk starter, and since i was a lazy 16 year old back then, i would just bump the starter with a wrench and then she'd crank for me ... but also check to see if theres some excessive wear on the starter... could also be dragging on the flywheel just a little bit and loosening the contacts from the excess vibrations... if thats the case buy a .100" starter spacer when you replace your starter

well just spent an hour or so screwing around with it, with the sbc engine swap in a fiero there is no shims to adjust the starter. the original starter was a powermaster 9000, the one i got was also a powermaster 9000, now the starter worked for a week or so then didnt work once then worked a few times. again didnt work worked a few times after that.. and so on playing with it tonight i find that the selinoid engages but when it makes contact with the fly wheel it just binds. no matter how i adjust it, it just binds. is this somthing powermaster will fix iv only had it for a month, what do ya think?

There is something going on with the installation. Not sure what you mean when you say there is no shimming on the fiero/chevy installation. All smallblock chevy starters bolt on from the underside, and you just insert some shims made for that purpose between the block and starter flange.

Now maybe the fiero swap changes that by using a starter in a different location?
How does your starter mount?

You could have 2 bad starters, but I bet something in the installation is killing them.

Don

yeah they should have just a standard small block chevy shim... unless for somereason the trans is setup differently and uses a different size starer...

Originally posted by Itoldyouso
All smallblock chevy starters bolt on from the underside,

Don [/B]

I will disagree with that, on many early SBC's if not all, they bolted to the bellhousing.

as like almost every car they tend to bolt to the bellhousing.... theres some exceptions but really not many

Early 283's and 327's did not have provisions to mount the starter to the block.

I assumed he is running something modern, what year and size is the engine?

I'm not a Chevy guy per se, but every 5.7 we work on daily has the starter bolted right to the block with two bolts going up through the starter.

Again, what year is this engine?

Don

to give u an idea of starter location in relation to date of production, my 1972 elky has the starter bolted to the block on the passenger side of the tranny. This is the original motor in the car. As does my 87 silverado...I think some of the newer s-10's and stuff with v6 and 4cyl have the started mounted different though.

I bolted the bellhousing from a 283 3 speed '62 pickup to a 400 small block using a 454 flywheel. I swapped the rear starter housing from the 283 starter to the 400 starter and bolted it to the bellhousing and it never gave me any problems.