starter grinding again, loosing my mind!!!!

[fishingman220]

Ok, i dont know if anyone remembers but last year about this time, i was having problems with my starter grinding and eating the ring gear on my fly wheel. I have a 96 mercruiser 5.7 2bbl. wheel the problem last year was that i had a bad gasket on he manifold to riser(i have closed cooling) and the raw water was leaking into the manifold, into the head and down into the cylinder, and rusted the cylinder walls. well tore motor apart, honed cylinders, and re ringed and bearinged the motor and put back together with all high quality parts. took the boat out 2 times after that last year and ran good, maybe about 3 or 4 hours. and about a month ago i started it and ran it for maybe 30 min, everything sounded good, ran fine. well i decided we were going out today, and went to start the motor and the starter grinded everytime i hit the switch, maybe 4 times. so pulled the starter off, and just knew i was going to see teeth missing like before, but just slittle shiny, still good though. took the starter to get tested, it was good. i can move the flywheel with a screwdriver so i dont think its locked up but i am loosing my mind with this thing. any ideas?????

 

[zbnutcase]

Re: starter grinding again, loosing my mind!!!!

Sounds like it might need a shim or two between the starter and block, you can buy them at most auto parts stores.

 

[boat127]

Re: starter grinding again, loosing my mind!!!!

did you replace the ring gear on the flywheel?
did you replace the starter bolts as well.
you should always replace starter bolts when replacing a starter
was the starter rebuilt or is it a new one

 

[fishingman220]

Re: starter grinding again, loosing my mind!!!!

thats what a buddie said to me, but it looks like to me it is grinding the top of the teeth on the flywheel, and if i put shims in it wouldnt it be even looser and be worse? i dont know but just my .02, i might be looking at it wrong

 

[fishingman220]

Re: starter grinding again, loosing my mind!!!!

new ring gear, new starter bolts, and rebuilt starter

 

[boat127]

Re: starter grinding again, loosing my mind!!!!

google starter shimming and theres lots of good info on how to do it

 

[fishingman220]

Re: starter grinding again, loosing my mind!!!!

ok i read one thing that said something about shimming the outside pad of the starter, do you think i should try that?

 

[fishingman220]

Re: starter grinding again, loosing my mind!!!!

i guess the only thing to do is go shim the puside pad and put back together and see what happens, hope i dont toast the ring gear

 

[fishingman220]

Re: starter grinding again, loosing my mind!!!!

 

[fishingman220]

Re: starter grinding again, loosing my mind!!!!

ok i have a shim kit, i added the thick one( cut in half and put it on the outside) and put the starter back on, it spun he motor over maybe 1/2 a turn and then started grinding again, should i add more shim?

 

[Sparkinator]

Re: starter grinding again, loosing my mind!!!!

I have no idea what your 350 starter setup looks like, but my ford 302 was grinding the tops of the teeth off the flywheel last year. My starter, a 2 bolt needed to be pushed as close to the block (flywheel) as possible before torquing down the starter bolts. There was a little play between the bolts and the starter housing.

Mine ground twice to the point where I had to use a breaker bar on the crank to move it to a different spot on the flywheel. Once I adjusted on the starter, it hasn't ground anymore.

 

[Fishermark]

Re: starter grinding again, loosing my mind!!!!

I've never had to shim a starter... having said that, I do have a "tool" in my box that is nothing more than a slender metal rod that you use to measure to distance between the nose of the starter and the flywheel.

I have seen starters flex under the force of the torque. That's why some starters have the bracket on the front (or back as the case may be) to secure them to the block.

 

[fishingman220]

Re: starter grinding again, loosing my mind!!!!

so push the starter as close to the block as possable and tighten the starter bolts?

 

[Sparkinator]

Re: starter grinding again, loosing my mind!!!!

Thats what I had to do on my Ford. The starter teeth wouldn't fully engage the flywheel teeth and it would start grinding. The boats previous owner told me in passing that he had a new starter and he had to replace the flywheel. When the starter started grinding on me, I pulled it and it was brand new. Obviously they hadn't learned from the first flywheel replacemnet.

 

[fishingman220]

Re: starter grinding again, loosing my mind!!!!

well i think i might have found my problem. last fall i filled the fuel tank all the way up with stabilizer, well now that its getting hot, fuel is running out of the vent. the main reason i wanted to take it out today was to burn some fuel off. well i started pulling plugs out and when i got to the #2 cylinder i pulled the spark plug out and it was like i pulled the drain plug on the coolan resivor, but it was gas. so what i am thinking is the pressure in he tank pushed gas upinto the carb into the cylinder, and hydro locked it. think thats right? if so what should i check in the mercarb?

 

[Bondo]

Re: starter grinding again, loosing my mind!!!!

well now that its getting hot, fuel is running out of the vent.
so what i am thinking is the pressure in he tank pushed gas upinto the carb into the cylinder, and hydro locked it. think thats right? if so what should i check in the mercarb?

Ayuh,... Sounds like the tank is well vented,... Can't build pressure in a vented vessel...
Get a carb Rebuild Kit,+ do the Whole Shebang....

 

[fishingman220]

Re: starter grinding again, loosing my mind!!!!

are you being sarcastic? do i need to check my vent? just had the carb rebuilt about 7 months ago, maybe 5 hrs on it

 

[fishingman220]

Re: starter grinding again, loosing my mind!!!!

it was only in the number 2 cylinder, so i am going to pull carb and go through that, put the plugs back in and change the oil, anything else you guys can think of that i need to do?

 

[fishingman220]

Re: starter grinding again, loosing my mind!!!!

well tonight, i let the motor sit over night last night with the plugs out and tonight i put some oil in he cylinders and then hit the switch, it spun over fine. so i am going to change he oil and put plugs back in. i did also go through the carb and everything looks good.

 

[fishingman220]

Re: starter grinding again, loosing my mind!!!!

do you think there is an issue with the vent?