and wondered if anyone else had encountered this failure.
I'd just gotten the daily driver back together after fixing the
driveshaft u-joints, took the car to work, and, naturally, it rained
buckets. 2-1/2 inches around here results in lots of flooding, since the
city is more than a little short of storm drains. So, the water was deep
enough to drown the starter.
The car wouldn't start the next day, and the starter was making some
fairly horrible noises. Figured there was still water in it and let it
sit a few days. No change.
The replacement starter came in (thanks, Ted!) and I pulled the old
starter out today. I found that the pinion-side bushing had worked its
way out of the end frame, which does tend to mess up the armature
alignment. While the bushing was a little beat up by the starter teeth,
there was no indication that it had seized on the shaft and spun. More
as if it had been bumped out by the armature moving back and forth.
Prior to submerging it in water, it was a very healthy starter. I should
note that the starter wasn't engaged at any time while it was under
water.
Is this a fairly common failure? I don't seem to remember it happening
on any British car I've had in the past, and can't remember seeing
anything like it when I was working on them for a living.
Cheers, all.
--
Michael D. Porter
Roswell, NM (yes, _that_ Roswell)
[mailto:mporter@zianet.com]
`70 GT6+ (being refurbished, slowly)
`72 GT6 Mk. III (organ donor)
`72 GT6 Mk. III (daily driver)
`64 TR4 (awaiting intensive care)
`80 TR7 (3.8 liter Buick-powered)
`86 Nissan 300ZX (the minimal-maintenance road car)
`68 VW Type II Camper (Lancia twin-cam powered, but feeling its age....)
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