You Wrote
> Date: Sun, 10 Nov 96 21:00:08 EST
> From: Doug Mathews <MATHEWS@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: TR3 Starter
>
> Alas, another minor problem.....
>
> Its been 2 months since I've started the car and now, when I engage the
> starter, the starter motor turns, but it acts like it is not engaging
> the flywheel. I presume its the portion of the starter that I believe
> extends to meet the flywheel is not moving. It has turned cold and it
> has been sitting, but inside and out of the elements.
>
> Intuition says remove the starter, but am I correct in my assessment, or
> are there other items to check first? It did this a time or two when it
> was warm, but the second try or so, it always turned the engine over. I
> also had charged the battery and as a fallback,used jumper cables when
> it did not turn over.
>
> TIA......
>Doug,
Sound like the bendix is gone. If it's the "long nose" type, there is a
hard rubber/steel encased cylindrical piece about 2 1/2" long x 1 1/2"
diameter that goes on the starter shaft right above the winding. Around
the inner rubber exterior is a metal casing which is suppose to
rotate in tandem with the inner rubber. When the starter is engaged,
this rubber cylinder spins with the starter shaft and forces the steel
casing to spin also. They have to act as one piece. If the rubber is
turning within the metal casing,then the metal casing won't turn thereby
failing to engage the bendix mechanism. Intermitant starter engagement
(ie engages when engine is cold but fails to work when engine is hot)
usually preceeds total failure of this piece. Changing this hard
rubber/steel cylinder piece should solve your problem. I would suggest
you get a proper exploded view of the starter before attempting to
disassemble it in order to ensure that you understand which pieces go
where. The Haynes manual shows most of this assembly. In order to get
the piece off, you have to remove 2 ring clips on the starter shaft and
the large inner ring clip holding the drive sprocket cover. Reassembly
is a bit tricky as you have to apply pressure to the bendix assembly to
get the first ring clip on the shaft. otherwise it's pretty
straightforward.
Barry Shefner
59 TR3A OTS 57675
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