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Remedy to starter gear that doesn't engage?

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MTribe

MTribe

Jedi Hopeful
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Sorry if this is covered elsewhere.. wasn't able to find it with a search.

I just rebuilt the engine in my TR6, which included cleaning up the stock starter motor/solenoid. Now when I start the car, the starter gear does not engage the flywheel on the first try--just goes "wwwwwhhhhiirrrr... pop." Then it usually engages on the second try.

It never used to do this and would engage every time. I did not readjust the solenoid throw to my knowledge (I was careful not to).

Any ideas? I have the transmission out to fix a leaky hydraulic throwout bearing, so now's the time to fix it...
 
You probably would have noticed when you did the rebuild, but worn teeth on the starter pinion or the ring gear can cause that.
So can other things like the flywheel alignment and although I haven't seen this type of starter, Haynes shows one that has an adjustment for the distance that the pinion moves.
I imagine there are other possibilities, starter or voltage related.
With the Tranny out at least you'll be able to see what's going on better.
 
I had this issue on my bugeye sprite. Problem was the wiring to the starter was incorrect. Is it wired up exactly the same as it was before? All contacts tightened down?
 
Ummmmm....leaky hydraulic t/o bearing? Toyota 5 speed conversion maybe? Do you know which t/o bearing you have..McLeod or the new Quarter Master?

BTW....when I had my engine and tranny out this winter for the 5 speed conversion, there were 2 "old" components I didn't replace because they had never given me a problem: Water pump & Starter. The water pump started weeping as soon as I was back on the road and the starter crapped out a couple of weeks later. Now's the time to install a gear reduction starter. If nothing else it will cut 11 pounds of weight out of the car! The installation was pretty easy https://tr6.danielsonfamily.org/Starter.htm
 
BobbyD said:
Ummmmm....leaky hydraulic t/o bearing? Toyota 5 speed conversion maybe? Do you know which t/o bearing you have..McLeod or the new Quarter Master?
Click to expand...

It's the McLeod... it was leaking all over the place. Herman sent the new Quarter Master. The design looks much better/simpler. Have you had good luck with either one?

How do I tell if the starter teeth are too worn? There is a little wear on the edges of the teeth, but it never did this before. I'll check it out and report back...
 
I brought mine to an Alternator & Starter repair shop to have a pro evaluate it.
 
Does anyone know how to inspect the teeth and ring for wear?
 
After you remove the starter look at the teeth on the Bendix on the starter for chipping and rounding of the end of the teeth that engage the flywheel ring gear first. Than inspect the teeth on the flywheel ring gear through the opening that the starter was mounted to. You will need to rotate the crankshaft 360 degrees in order to inspect all of the teeth as the wear may only be in certain areas..
 
My ring gear wore only in about a 4" area that the crank would stop on at about every other time, thus would have to rock the car in 4th gear to move the flywheel. I feel that the crank would tend to end up in the same spot or spots many times when an engine is turned off (don't ask me why I feel this, just my opinion) and would cause this wear. I ended up just changing the flywheel to an aluminum one anyway and now have a brand spanking new ring gear sitting at home with the Cosmolene still on it if you are interested. I will sell it at half price if you need it. It came from TRF. Was gonna install it myself on the old flywheel using the freezer/oven technique. Also, urban legend has it that most if not all ring gears on the TR6 were installed backwards inadvertently at the factory. Mine certainly was and it was OE.
 
When I bought my car, I was in the same situation as TR6BILL.
I had bigger fish to fry and I didn't want to tear out a fairly recently done interior. I went with the starter that was used in the TR-250. It is the inertia type starter, that has the pinion (bendix) engage the flywheel from the transmission side of the flywheel, where the teeth were not damaged.
Now hearing about the ring gear being installed backwards, I guesss that ended up being better in that respect...or not.
 
Shoot... just noticed on the ring gear on the flywheel that the notched side of the teeth is AWAY from the starter side. That is, the notched side of the teeth are toward the rear of the car.

Is this correct, or should the notched side of the teeth face the starter? I'm assuming those have got to face the starter to ease engagement of the starter pinion.
 
PS, if that's the wrong way, how big of a deal is it to remove the ring rear and put a new one on?

Would like to avoid that if possible since it'd mean taking the flywheel off, and having it rebalanced, etc. , but if I must, I suppose that's what I'll do!
 
Sorry.. just got more savvy with the search function and found some answers. Starting new thread with more specific question...
 
That there high torque starter is a Toyota unit... OH! WHAT A FEELING!!!!! :banana:
 
Just wanted to close the loop... I decided to bite the bullet and get a new ring gear pressed on ($88 labor from a local shop, a great investment considering the freeze/heat thing sounds tricky), and got a gear reduction starter. It doesn't have the problem anymore, obviously, and the gear reduction starter turns the motor over quite a bit faster, making the motor start faster, too. Pretty nice!
 
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