TR2/3/3A engine :"stuck" even before it starts!

[Geo Hahn]

The starter could be stuck! If you have a stock starter, you put a wrench on the back of the starter and turn the motor I believes CC...

Actually I think you would turn the armature CW (backwards). Or, on a car with wheels on the ground you put it in 4th and rock it backwards.

But didn't Dr M have the starter out and still no joy?

 

[Dr_Mike]

top marks for the suggestion that the starter was the problem.... or at least a problem.
took of rocker s and that made no difference> actually the chain tension was slack even when the engine was stuck so that was a good clue. tppk off stater.... back to normal. I think this was the wrong starter so this is a good time to find out. I cannot remember if i counted the teeth, but even without a battery it was clearly jamming somewhere. Iy will have to go back where it came from and is a good cautionary message. correct Lucas number is 25555 and this was 255210. I don't know its origin.

So back to the assembly, Woodruff keys, fan etc. Let us hope for no more problems and give thanks to all of you who took an interest

Michael

PS I am appalled to see that I was wrestling with the keys 11 months ago. Slow and not so sure!

 

[CJD]

The struck starter resulted in finding the key problem. So in the end it saved a lot of grief!

 

[sp53]

I learned about the starter from experience, the starter motor basically engages in 2 spots on the ring gear on a 4 cylinder every time or anytime you start the car because they are critical points of the engine cycle the compression is at its peak 180 and 180 opposing and the engine stops there. Plus the starter pounds the crap out of the ring gear there. So look at you ring gear and make sure it is not damaged because if you replace the starter with a new one you will have the same problem. Hopefully this is moot point and you replaced the ring gear, but even if you did inspect the entire ring gear. Pull the plugs and pull the tin plate at the bottom by the pan then put a mark on the ring gear and turn the engine over by hand to inspect the entire ring gear.

Peace out sp53

 

[HighAltitudeTR3]

I had the wrong starter issue. Locked up the entire engine. The starter was actually fine, I ended up using it. But the gear on the end was wrong. It would hit the bolts on the fly wheel. I ordered it from Victoria British and they had no idea what they had shipped or that there was a difference. I pulled the gear off the old one and it worked fine.

 

[HighAltitudeTR3]

Look at the teeth on the gears. Simple swap.

 

[sp53]

Well great-- a simple fix, did it damage the ring gear? Probably not because of the onetime deal, which one did you end up using, the left or the right in the picture. I am curious because it could happen to me. The old one on the left looks correct, but it looks like they both should work. Perhaps the amount of teeth was the problem.
steve

 

[HighAltitudeTR3]

Steve it didn't cause damage, but it freaked me out for a couple hours. I thought the engine had seized. But I took off the starter and back to normal immediately. The worst part of the experience is Victoria British didn't see that they did anything wrong!! I won't order from them again.

I used the gear from the starter on left, it was a simple swap.The gear from the starter gets hung up on the bolts on the flywheel. I believe there are only a few years they had the bolts like that.

 

[HighAltitudeTR3]

This is quote from MOSS:

MossMotors.com

The 4 cylinder TRs were fitted with 3 different types of flywheels throughout production. The 3 basic types are as follows: 1.- Flywheel with shrink-on ring gear, originally fitted to TS50000, which goes with the early shrouded starter motor and spring-type clutch cover. 2.- Flywheel with bolt-on ring gear for later starter motor and spring-type clutch cover originally fitted to TR3A from TS500001, TR3B and all TR4s. 3.- Flywheel with bolt-on ring gear and 8 1/2" diaphragm clutch, originally fitted to all TR4A. None are available, but due to the propensity of car owners to mix and match, you could have any combination fitted to your TR.