Gofast,Fiat, any one...........Starter isues

[LilFlattie]

:mad: I have burned up two starters. I really need some help here. Both starters have died the same way. Got really hot, and seem to hang up and not disengage. I am using a flywheel now, but recently bought a flexplate. The PTO for the drive shaft (oh, it is a V-Drive...Sorry) won't go on becuase of the dowel on the crank. Do I have to have a hole drilled in the PTO or am I missing something? I have tried shimming the second starter, but still burned it up. Frustrated and Drydocked................Please give me some ideas.

[Moneypitt]

Bolt the PTO flange up to your flywheel (you took off) and use it for a guide to drill the pto to accept the dowel pin. Why are the starters getting hot? Weak battery? Extremely high compression? Inadaquate battery cables? MP

[LilFlattie]

The starters would not disengage after it started. But shimming them would not help. Just a mild BBC. the gear on the starters have been deformed from being so tight. So, I assume that means shimming, but how many can you use?

[Fiat48]

Gm starter or what kind of aftermarket?

[Moneypitt]

In over 40 years of automotive experience I have NEVER shimmed a chevy starter, NEVER ONCE. In fact the only GM starters I've ever shimmed were Pontiacs........Describe the wiring to your starter...........MP

[LilFlattie]

The starters that fried were hi torque minis,don't remember the make. the new one is the Summit brand hi torque. As far as the wiring, I have push button and a push pull as the kill switch.Can't remember hoew the wires are ran at the moment. Moneypit how should it be wired? If it is different I have no problem re-wireing. I will see if I can get a pic of the gear on the starters. The starters gears are very tight when I pull the gear out. I thought there should be some play. If that is wrong, i'm all ears.

[Fiat48]

On aftermarket starters with no front nose support.....I was told by knowledgable starter guy to set it up this way:
Disconnect battery cables.
With the starter in place..pull the gear into the flywheel fully engaged and then let go.
Starter gear should return to 1/2 way or slightly less into the teeth of the flywheel.
If it does not return enough...add shims till it does. If it snaps clear back out of the teeth completly...remove shims or machine starter mount side.
Also have seen a few that you had to do 1/2 shim...to kick the starter slightly away from the flywheel.
Wriring....should just be bat cable to solenoid of starter.. small wire to the one terminal on the solenoid.

[Moneypitt]

Welcome to the ever increasing parade of people using "high torque mini starters" that seem to have never ending problems. Why are you using one?...........MP

[slotracer]

i bought one of those p.o.s. starters :mad: and had nothing but problems including frying a new harness. got a starter for a newer bbc from autozone put it in and fired up right away. no more problems :rollside:

[Fiat48]

Dont know if this will help but here goes. Drag boats I always ran stock Chevy starters. Even when running 15 to 1 compression or even with blown setups I never had a problem. Don't remember ever shimming any of them. In the drag altereds I didnt have the room for stock Chevy so I went the Tilton superstarter. Not the cheapie...the high dollar model. Had some problems and even lost one final round due to starter gear.
After setting the starter up the way I just said in prior post I had no more problems.
Then I built the Fiat and could not use the Tilton on that car. So I used a starter that mounted "upside down" that I got from Jim Mayer.
That starter is called an IMI and is based on Toyota design. The Tilton is based on Nissan Sentra design.
The IMI worked fine and I felt it was a better unit than the Tilton. I did have to mill the mount flange slightly for pan clearance.
One of those starters is now on the boat but dang if I remember which one it is.

[LilFlattie]

The reason I am using it is because my motor plate opening for the starter is not big enough to use a stock starter. Ok, on the wiring end I have two switches. push button to start, and a push pull to kill. After looking at the way it was wired I think this is where my problem is. All for wires from the switches went to the starter..one was to the Connector on the soleniod,and two went with the battery cable on the other. The switches have two wires each but don't have any markings. What is the best way to wire these up.
Thanks for your help........maybe i'll see the water this year.

[Moneypitt]

The reason I am using it is because my motor plate opening for the starter is not big enough to use a stock starter. Ok, on the wiring end I have two switches. push button to start, and a push pull to kill. After looking at the way it was wired I think this is where my problem is. All for wires from the switches went to the starter..one was to the Connector on the soleniod,and two went with the battery cable on the other. The switches have two wires each but don't have any markings. What is the best way to wire these up.
Thanks for your help........maybe i'll see the water this year.
You are picking up battery voltage to the switches from the battery cable conected to the large terminal on the solinoid. That is OK. The ignition, pull/push, should go to the coil, or ballast resistor if so equiped, to supply voltage for the ignition. The push button should go to the small spade,(male) on the solinoid to engage the starter. You said all 4 wires went to the starter. What powers the ignition? AND are you keeping the starter engaged with the ignition pull/push?. Only one side of the pull/push should come FROM the large terminal on the solinoid, and then out from that switch to the ignition, not back to the starter.....ONLY the return to the male spade from the push button should go anywhere near the starter. (ALSO make sure the button isn't staying "hot" keeping the starter engaged.) .......MP

[LilFlattie]

Money, I think the way it was ..... it has both the wires from the push button to the starter. one went to the small spade, and the other i think was to the soleniod coneected with the batt cable. Now the push pull one wire went to the - side coil and the other went to the starter. Also i do have an msd ign.

[Moneypitt]

Money, I think the way it was ..... it has both the wires from the push button to the starter. one went to the small spade, and the other i think was to the soleniod coneected with the batt cable. Now the push pull one wire went to the - side coil and the other went to the starter. Also i do have an msd ign.
Nothing from ANY switch goes to the - side of the coil. The - side goes to the distributor, and/or ignition box, if so equiped.......Wait, do you pull it to KILL the motor??????? Has it got a MAG? This is really getting strange.......MP

[texas-19]

I have a wiring question.Im basically starting over.The alternator is mounted on the same side as the starter.Is it ok to go from the hot on the alternator straight to the battery post on the starter and then to the terminal strip?

[centerhill condor]

I've got a year on a mini high torque powermaster... had to dissassemble the full size GM starter to remove it! no problems since, with the starter anyway! best of luck.