OK I got the starter out .I used a special S shaped wrench a friend had to get the upper back bolt out.Major pain dropping the starter because the Bendix was extended! Could this be why it wouldn't crank?I PUT STARTER A FLOOR APPLIED 12 VOLTS AND IT SPUN VERY FAST BUT BENDIX DIDNT RETRACT.THANKS
292 no crank pt 3 what i found.!
- Thread starter mikhett
- Start date
Dobie Gillis
Well-known member
Sounds like you found the problem; the Bendix was continuously engaged with the ring gear. Time for a new Bendix. Just to be sure, have you tried turning the engine with a wrench on the crank pulley bolt now that you have the starter out?
Ole Don
Well-known member
Stick a long screw driver in the starter hole and try to turn the motor with flywheel teeth. If it turns easily, the starter was jammed. I was going to tell you about that last week, but the other guys had me convinced it was electrical. Sometimes, a starter drive will get itself jammed. If that happens, put the car in second or third gear and rock it buy pushing backwards until you hear a "SPROING". If you have an auto trans, I have no idea how to fix it other than a starter removal.
Jay in Mass
Senior Member
Turn on your electric wire brush or buffer. Hold the drive against it so it spins and it will retract.
Jay is right. In normal use, after the engine fires and you release the button/key, the ring gear spins the Bendix fast enough to release the 'lock-in pin' (a spring loaded pin in the Bendix that snaps into a shallow hole as the Bendix engages, to keep it engaged until centrifugal force pulls it back). If you play around with your starter on the bench and wind the Bendix gear down the spiral, this pin will engage the hole in the shaft and lock it into the engaged position. I've forgotten the trick I used to use (been a long time). The wire wheel method is as good one. Just be sure to spin it in the normal direction.
Early Bendixes lacked the lock-in feature so if the engine fired once or twice and then died right away, the starter would just buzz because the flywheel had spun just enough to release the Bendix. If you still had your finger on the button/key you were keeping the starter spinning but not engaged. So you had to let go of the button, wait for the starter to stop spinning and try again (sometimes again, and again, and...).
If the spiral got gummed up from clutch dust, grit and oil, the drive would not spin in freely to engage and just grind on the ring gear until you hit the button a few times. Since a V8 always stops against compression in one of four places, this results in ground down ring gear teeth and then the drive jamming up. I used to shut the engine off in gear with the clutch down and foot on the brake, then pop the clutch up just before the engine stopped so the flywheel stopped in a different place (this is known as a farmer fix).
Early Bendixes lacked the lock-in feature so if the engine fired once or twice and then died right away, the starter would just buzz because the flywheel had spun just enough to release the Bendix. If you still had your finger on the button/key you were keeping the starter spinning but not engaged. So you had to let go of the button, wait for the starter to stop spinning and try again (sometimes again, and again, and...).
If the spiral got gummed up from clutch dust, grit and oil, the drive would not spin in freely to engage and just grind on the ring gear until you hit the button a few times. Since a V8 always stops against compression in one of four places, this results in ground down ring gear teeth and then the drive jamming up. I used to shut the engine off in gear with the clutch down and foot on the brake, then pop the clutch up just before the engine stopped so the flywheel stopped in a different place (this is known as a farmer fix).