Cracked Bolthole on Block for Starter

[gringeltaube]

I'm not saying that it is normal for a starter Bendix to stay stuck in the ring gear; quite the opposite... But these cheap starters just seem to have that bad habit.

Easy to confirm (if you have a problem or not): barely hit the starter button and if it remained stuck, then just move the flexplate a tad, manually. If the Bendix does retract instantly, then it will do the same once the engine fired.

 

[cucvrus]

You may have answered this before. Do you have the forward starter support bracket in place and tight?

 

[zdubz]

I do have the L Bracket in place and tight when I try. I have been tightening to spec which I think is 35lbs.

Notably, it was not there when I bought the truck and that could have been one reason why one of my bolt holes was cracking.

 

[richingalveston]

I had the same issue with my starter. the Bendix will stay engaged if the motor does not fire. it does not hurt anything. it is just already engaged when you try to start it the next time.
once the motor fires, the Bendix will retract.
you can put a socket on the harmonic balancer bolt and rotate the motor forward just slightly and the Bendix retracts if the motor did not start.

my only problem was bad flex plates.

also the noise from starter is much louder without glow plugs installed. with no compression the starter is so much louder you think it is not shimmed right.

 

[gringeltaube]

........If what you're saying is true ........
.........Because if that's the case than I am about to be a very happy man .....

So, what about your happiness...

 

[zdubz]

Update:

With no shims the newest starter sounded good when turning the plate so I purged the air through the fuel system, put the plugs back in and she fired right up. So, I let it run for an hour before taking it around the block once, then I let it cool an hour and again it turned correctly and fired up and drove.


The core problems was that the original starter that came on the truck had no L-Bracket and that torqued and thrashed until it had caused one of the boltholes in the block to begin to crack. So the bolthole is fixed, starter HAS a bracket, flexplate is brand-new, and I learned a **** of a lot by having a CUCV as a first truck to break me off.


Thank you to all y'all who helped me out with this, richingalveston's post from 1/30/18 is dead on the money, thank you sir.

 

[cucvmule]

Outstanding! Now do a couple of follow up checks on the fasteners to make sure that after a couple of cold and hot cycles that they stay tight. Tighten when still warm.

 

[cucvrus]

Also make sure you use a nylock nut on the starter stud to the bracket. Keeps it tight thru all that racket and vibration. Make sure you used an M8 bolt into the block. That is a metric hole for sure. I have seen many with a 5/16" bolt jammed in there and not seated tight. But 3 times as many with nothing. Good Luck. Sounds like you are on the right path.

 

[cucvmule]

cucvrus, great thinking. I also stud the block fastener, blue loctite on the stud, nyloc nut.

 

[gringeltaube]

Reopened thread.
(Not sure why it had been closed.)