Starter screeching! Help!

[realpank]

Getting my 1976 24' Argosy MoHo ready for a trip and decided to try to start. Batteries had sat for a while but I knew they still had some juice. Almost started but they drained on the last try.

Put the trickle charge on and when I went to start all I get is a dreadfull screaching sound from the starter and it won't turn over. It is a new starter and probably has less that 100 starts on it.

Have I fried it? Need to get this rectified as \I nhave a trip planned for week prior to Labor day.

Thanks in advance,
Chris

[WineStream]

Hmm...I've heard of starters making nasty sounds if the correct shim is not in place, but since you've obviously used it a few times without problems since installing it, I guess you had it right shim-wise.

I bought a new starter for my moho about 3 months ago. I bought the plain-jane stock starter and it had a warning that said operation at less than 9 volts would damage the starter. So, if your batteries were low, perhaps the voltage drop when you hit the starter would be enough to fry it?

How long did you leave the trickle charger on? I don't know the charge time for a trickle from a weak battery to fully charged, but I'd guess it's days, not hours. Also, it could be that the battery is bad. It can act like it's fully charged...drawing no amps from the charger, shows 12-something volts even when the charger is off of it...but still it's bad because it can't let go of enough amps when you try to start.

I did the (starting) battery on my moho last year, new starter this year. Starts like a champ, now!

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by realpank

Getting my 1976 24' Argosy MoHo ready for a trip and decided to try to start. Batteries had sat for a while but I knew they still had some juice. Almost started but they drained on the last try.

Put the trickle charge on and when I went to start all I get is a dreadfull screaching sound from the starter and it won't turn over. It is a new starter and probably has less that 100 starts on it.

Have I fried it? Need to get this rectified as \I nhave a trip planned for week prior to Labor day.

Thanks in advance,
Chris

I have heard that noise many times. It is caused by getting enough power to the starter to make it spin, but not enough to spin it fast enough to engage the spindle on the flywheel. My diagnosis is that you need to fully charge the battery if it is still good. If you have a good charged battery and it still does that, you probably need a new starter solenoid. Also clean and retighten all the battery connections.

Ken

P.S. Don't let it make that noise any more than necessary because it is wearing down the teeth on the spindle and ring gear and you will have to replace them.

[realpank]

Thanks for the replies guys.

After I removed it i found that the aluminum housing that holds the shaft in place has cracked right off. Can't say I've ever seen this before. Now I've got to find the Napa bill.

Cheers

[Ag&Au]

Oh Yeah,
I forgot to say I was thinking that might have happened also.
Ken

[realpank]

Is it possible that the house broke because it was not shimmed. I have never had to shim a starter, is there a thread on how do that?

[WineStream]

I suppose that's possible. The starter should have been shimmed from the factory. If you needed shims, they should have been there with the old one when you changed the starter. It seems to me that I've read somewhere about the indicators of a starter that's not shimmed enough vs. one that is too far away. I think this was in the literature with the starter I purchased. Can't be sure.

I don't know if there's any threads on here about it, but I bet if you Googled it that you'd find a multitude of opinions and methods. It's not exclusive to Airstream motorhomes. It applies to many Chevy engines from the 50's through the 90's.

[realpank]

Thanks for all the replies,

Had the unit rebuilt and re-installed...started right up like the champ she is!

Rebuilder says they see these crack off when you get a back-fire(on start-up), but mine only backfored recently when I had a run-on issue on shut-off.

Still a mystery why it cracked...hope I never have to deal with that again.

Cheers, now off to the Pinery for a week prior to Labour day...happy camping!

[richinny]

if you have a high torque starter, there should be a support strap on the tail of the starter to the engine block. you can tell if it the high torque version by the length of the starter. look and see it the screw between the solenoid and the starter has a sleeve about an inch long between the solenoid and starter. on the regular starter, the starter tab is screwed right to the solenoid terminal.

picture: http://paceperformance.com/images/M15216027.gif

[WineStream]

Originally Posted by realpank

Cheers, now off to the Pinery for a week prior to Labour day...happy camping!

We were camping at the Pinery almost one year ago to the date! Excellent park. Who knew Canada had inland sand beaches?!? Excellent bike trails there, too.

Glad you got everything fixed in time to go.