[Mg-t] TD Starter problem

[Stuart Keen]

I cleaned ALL cable contacts. They are all SHINY. No change to the
intermittent starter problem.

I took off the starter. The teeth look hardly used.

I had a friend crank over the engine (I took out the plugs to make it
easier) as I looked at the ring gear. I painted a white line so I would know
where I started. Went around the ring gear twice, first looking at the side
of the teeth, and then looking down into the teeth. Like Glenn MG Repair
said, ring gear is good. I find NO WEAR.

I will now inspect the brushes of the NEW starter.

If that does not give answers, then I  will put it all back together and
temporarily run a ground cable from the starter to the battery just in case
somewhere along the ground line, I have a problem. This should eliminate any
cable problem. 

Anything else? I think I have covered everything, but open to suggestions.

Stu





On 3/3/12 2:07 PM, "Lawrie" <lawrie at britcars.com> wrote:

> Stu,
> 
> It sounds to me as though your flywheel does have some damaged teeth on
> the ring gear - there's no adjustment for the starter and if the switch
> and the starter are working properly, there's not much else to go wrong.
> 
> One proof for this would be, when the starter is refusing to engage
> properly, put the car in gear and move the car enough to turn the engine
> about a quarter turn, then try the starter again (after taking it out of
> gear, of course!). If it works this time, you know it's the ring gear
> that's at fault. If it doesn't work, then I'm baffled, too!
> 
> Lawrie
> 
> On 3/3/2012 6:59 AM, Stuart Keen wrote:
>> I have always had an annoying starter problem with my TD (purchased 12 years
>> ago), but now it is getting worse. Now, up to fifty percent of the time, the
>> starter pinion gear does not properly engage the flywheel and in the
>> attempt, I hear either a loud "clunking" or a whirling of the starter motor.
>> At first I thought there might be an electrical problem, that the starter
>> motor was not throwing outward the pinion gear far enough, that there was
>> insufficient current (or dirt on the Bendix). So, battery was replaced
>> yesterday (found one bad cell), cables were replaced, starter switch was
>> replaced last week. Problem still existed. A new starter was also installed.
>> No change. Nothing else in the electrical circuit to consider.
>> 
>> This morning, while starting the TD by manually pushing in the plunger of
>> the starter switch, I came to the conclusion it is a mechanical problem, not
>> electrical, but I don't know how to fix. When the engine starts OK, the
>> pinion gear engages the flywheel without a sound. When there is a problem,
>> you can definitely hear a mismatch of gears; i.e. the clunking noise.
>> 
>> So where is the adjustment for starter position? In addition to a new
>> starter, the XPAG engine was recently professionally rebuilt by Glenn9s MG
>> Repair in Tampa. The flywheel was inspected and there was no noticeable wear
>> nor were there any teeth missing.
>> 
>> The starter is physically mounted with two bolts. I see no means of any
>> adjustment.
>> 
>> I'm curious if anyone else has had this problem and what the fix might be.
>> Thanks for your help.
>> 
>> Stu Keen
>> 1951 MG TD MKII
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