987.1 Screeching starter motor

[Eddie Strohacker]

I've had this intermittently for about a year. It corresponds with a clutch change at Parr. No idea whether it would be anything to do with that or not & in any event I'm way past the point where I could bring it up with them, but I mention it as it may be salient in that the starter would have been off & on again for the clutch.

The symptoms are a screech as if the solenoid isn't disengaging from the flywheel after starting & only after starting. Otherwise, it functions exactly as it should. Anyone had this & can offer any advice? Clean up? replace? or just something they all do sir?

[finestjammy]

Is it a very brief screech, or does it linger for a few seconds? If it's very brief, and more prevalent when it's damp or you've washed the car, it could be the belt. Mine does this on startup. Got it checked out and it was just the belt that had a tiny bit of moisture.

[Eddie Strohacker]

finestjammy said:

Is it a very brief screech, or does it linger for a few seconds? If it's very brief, and more prevalent when it's damp or you've washed the car, it could be the belt. Mine does this on startup. Got it checked out and it was just the belt that had a tiny bit of moisture.

It is brief, but I think I'm reasonable in ruling out the belt as I changed that when I renewed the water pump in April & the screech pre-dates that belt change. I'm 99% certain it is the starter but thanks for the heads up.

[jimmsy]

I changed mine a couple of months ago. Was a slight pain in the arse getting to it (requires two socket extensions!) and then had to file done one of the connectors because it didn't quite fit flush.

I had a squeal for about 0.5-1 second when starting. It happened about 80% of the time. This fixed it.

[Eddie Strohacker]

jimmsy said:

I changed mine a couple of months ago. Was a slight pain in the arse getting to it (requires two socket extensions!) and then had to file done one of the connectors because it didn't quite fit flush.

I had a squeal for about 0.5-1 second when starting. It happened about 80% of the time. This fixed it.

That's exactly what I have. What did you do to fix it Jimmsy, other than file down the connector?

ETA; Duh, replaced it. Always read the answer!

Edited by Eddie Strohacker on Wednesday 5th July 07:32

[andygo]

I had this on mine.

I stripped it down and regreased everything. Its perfect now.

[Eddie Strohacker]

andygo said:

I had this on mine.

I stripped it down and regreased everything. Its perfect now.

Andy, forgive me for being a pain, but would you be kind enough to run me through that? Grease what & moreover, what not to grease, given where the motor operates. What kind of grease & so on. I've rebuilt engines, suspension assemblies, just about everything in my time, but never overhauled a starter motor.

[Rockster]

Eddie Strohacker said:

Andy, forgive me for being a pain, but would you be kind enough to run me through that? Grease what & moreover, what not to grease, given where the motor operates. What kind of grease & so on. I've rebuilt engines, suspension assemblies, just about everything in my time, but never overhauled a starter motor.

The starter is probably of the design that as the starter motor shaft turns the threads on the shaft which engage the starter pinion gear cause the gear to move out along the shaft and engage the ring gear on the flywheel. There is a stop so once the gear is fully engaged the threads on the starter motor shaft now spin the pinion gear and which in turn spins the ring gear.

When the engine fires and begins to run on its own power and the flywheel gear now spins the pinion gear faster than the starter motor can turn it and this causes the pinion gear to move back along the starter motor shaft and disengage the ring gear. There is probably a spring that helps move the pinion gear completely away from the flywheel ring gear teeth.

What then is probably going on is motor shaft threads and threads in the pinion gear are "dry" and the pinion gear hangs up a bit but moves out of engagement as the engine gains RPMs.

A "fix" is to remove the starter and clean the shaft threads and the pinion gear threads then apply a high temperature grease/lubricant. 'course, an inspection of the hardware is called for to be sure there is no mechanical damage, the spring (if present) is intact, nor is there any excessive wear. No magic grease will undo that.

[Eddie Strohacker]

Rockster said:

Good stuff.

Thanks Rockster, appreciate the steer