1974 Inline six - starter won't engage flywheel?

[DirtyOldBoat]

I'm working on a '74 Mercury 1500 that has been left out in the weather uncovered. My starter was frozen, but I was able to free it up and it spins great without load. The problem is now that I bolted it back onto the block the bendix doesn't engage the flywheel? The starter motor just spins at a high rate of speed. I can manually make the bendix engage and it all seems to work smoothly.

Any ideas from the experts would be greatly appreciated...

 

[monk-monk]

Re: 1974 Inline six - starter won't engage flywheel?

I experienced the same problem...with a '78 1400 that had sit for a long time, unfogged...the starter acted just like you are describing, i put a new bendix gear on it, lubed it all up....and it did the same thing as the original bendix gear, just sit there and spun and wouldn't jump up and grab the flywheel...im pretty knowledgable with this equipment...i think it is a weak armature...the armature just doesn't have the thrust to kick that bendix gear up...you might think that starter is spinning the bendix good enough, but probably not..NOW, i want to inform you of something else thats very relative...my motor sat for a long time too...it WAS in good condition internally, BUT once i got the motor running...after doing pre-lubing and such because it sat so long...it didn't take but about 2 hours of operation, until all the fine rust from condensation, infiltration by bugs and such getting in the motor became dislodged and it ruined the bearings pistons and basically everything else...the crankshaft had needle bearing rust pits in it...if it wasn't fogged and it has sat for more than 3 years...outside....you're looking for trouble with that assembly....wouldn't tell you this if i didn't know and experience it myself...don't know til you try...if it eats itself up inside, the parts probably wasn't salvagable anyway...

 

[DirtyOldBoat]

Re: 1974 Inline six - starter won't engage flywheel?

So you think the starter needs to be replaced or rebuilt? How did you fix yours?

BTW - I tried manually engaging the bendix, and then running the starter, but it didn't have enough "oomph" to turn the motor over this way.

It's only sat for about a year since the last time it started, but unfortunately it was uncovered (including the cowl) all winter. I'm a bit worried about internal rust but like you say there's not much way to know until I try. It does turn over nice and smoth by hand. I'm more worried about all the electronics that sat out in the weather....

 

[JB]

Re: 1974 Inline six - starter won't engage flywheel?

Have you serviced the starter electrical circuit, DOB?

Take both battery cables and the cable from the solenoid to the starter off, both ends. Scrub the connections shiny and reconnect. If there is even a tiny amount of corrosion in that circuit your starter cannot get enough current to function correctly.

If the starter was frozen by corrosion just imagine what those connections must be like.

Good luck.

 

[DirtyOldBoat]

Re: 1974 Inline six - starter won't engage flywheel?

Unfortunately I directly connected the starter to the battery by bolting some cables directly to the starter from the battery, I was hoping to eliminate as many bad connections as possible. The only other thing I can think of is maybe my battery is a little weak? The starter spins REALLY fast though with no load.

Is there any other reason the bendix wouldn't engage the flywheel, other than the starter not spinning fast enough? It looks like used starters aren't too expensive but I'm not sure the one I have is broken.

 

[JB]

Re: 1974 Inline six - starter won't engage flywheel?

Okay. It seems almost certain that the Bendix gear (more correctly, pinion) is being prevented from being thrown up into the flywheel ring gear by inertia.

Get in there and find and remove whatever is blocking it. It would seem really wasteful to me to replace the starter because the pinion can't rise freely.

 

[DirtyOldBoat]

Re: 1974 Inline six - starter won't engage flywheel?

Get in there and find and remove whatever is blocking it. It would seem really wasteful to me to replace the starter because the pinion can't rise freely.

That's what I don't understand. It seems to work freely by hand. If I turn it clockwise is pops right up and engages the flywheel. It all moves nice and easy and I don't see any debris or major weathering in the area. Any other ideas?

Edit: I got someone else to run the starter for me, the pinion gear starts to rise up just before it touches the flywheel and then doesn't go any higher. I don't see anything causing this. Could it be a problem with the spring?

Thanks for the help.