51 Pontiac with a 239 in-line 6. When I upgraded it to 12 volt wiring, I kept the original 6 volt starter, and so far (1-1/2yrs) its been working fine. Recently though I've been getting a loud grinding noise occassionally like the starter is spinning before it gets engaged. Finally got some time today to get her up on stands and take a look - Yuuucchh !!!! - lots of grindings in the inspection cover. 1. I'll be getting the die grinder out to clean up the ring gear as best I can. 2. Pulled the starter - the bendix seems fine - spins free - some teeth repairs needed too !! 3. The lever and solenoid move freely. 4. The contacts inside the solenoid are clean - the disk and springs seem fine as well. 5. Battery's new and fully charged - no lack of juice for the starter. It doesn't do it all the time, but when it does it makes one hell of a noise !!! Not sure of whats causing it so I'm asking for some help. I did notice the solenoid is mounted with slotted holes - I plan on pulling it as far back as possible when I re-install. Any other things I should be looking at ???
Check the bendix even a bad one will spin free one way. Turn it the oppsite direction to see if it locks up every time you turn it. If it doesn't the starter will not engage and cause grinding of flywheel teeth. Usually by the time solenoid goes bad so does the bendix.
That reminds me; I've got a dentist's appointment next week! Is the ring gear seperate from the flywheel? If so, maybe it can be heated and pressed off, flipped 180 degrees and pressed back on. Might save you some time with the die grinder. And assuming a new ring gear isn't readily available.
Hank37 - thanks for the advise on the bendix - tore it apart again and the bendix was damaged. Tried another one from a spare starter and it seems to have corrected the problem. Claymart - the ring gear could be swapped - I've actually got a spare one in better shape (now) so that's a swap planned for this winter. Again thanks guys for the help !!!!
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