yet another starter problem

[Coleman]

So, I've all the sudden started getting skips or zings from my starter during startup. I replaced the clutch, flywheel last month and everything was fine. Last week I started getting chirps, squeals, screams from my starter and then it would catch and the motor would start. I took my starter in to be checked and it passed but it looked kind of worn so I opted for a new one. I hook up the new starter and it does the same thing, ching, ching, screech, screech and it finally catches and the motor starts. The battery is showing 12.5 volts and is fairly fresh, I have not checked the alternator. Is it possible that my flywheel has somehow gotten loose or I have some mechanical issue or am I having some type of electrical problem where the starter isn't getting enough juice to engage.

Truck is a 68 K20, 327, manual SM464 with a rockwell 221T.

[krue]

I've had similar problems, finally had to get a different nosecone for my starter.

I went to a local auto electric shop and they told be the nosecone I bought would put my starter gear a little closer to the flywheel. Since then I've had no problems (went thru several starters in the previous six months) and it's been about a year.

[krue]

BTW the new nosecone is the black one. It uses the bolt holes that are straight across instead of on an angle.

[Coleman]

What is kind of crazy is the old starter was working fine until one day it just started skipping. As I started to start the engine it would spin, try agian spin, try agian spin, wait a few minutes and it would finally catch, scream, scream the truck would start and I would get home. It's like the starter had worn out. I figured putting a new one in would fix things but the new one is doing the same thing. If the alternator wasn't working properly would this affect the starter?

[jhow66]

Alt. would have no effect on starter if battery ok. You need check teeth on flywheel. If ok try a starter shim on outside bolt only (about .015). This will engage starter gear teeth deeper in flywheel.

[Coleman]

Right now I don't have the splash guard(s) ( for lack of a better term ) installed. The Starter is flush mounted and I'm now wondering if I need to back out the starter so it's not so deep. I think I'll start from scratch this weekend and see if I have something loose or have a bad wire somewhere. Pull everthing out and try again, double checking everything. Seems like everytime I touch this truck something else breaks. Looks like too many years of neglect from the PO.

[NPilot1975]

you might want to try some starter shims. Starters are not always square to your block and sometimes need to be shimmed, even though your last one worked fine.

[krue]

You can try shimming it, but if that doesn't work then go get the nose cone like I did. The starter that came with my truck failed for a different reason and every replacement starter I used after would work for a little while then they would start slipping when the tips of the gears had worn enough.

[crazyred]

this is very un likely but could it be that the starter and flywheel are not parallel to each other and giving you a bad gear mesh???

starter gear---> \____________ <-------flywheel

i dont know how to insert a drawing yet so i hope what im trying to show made $$$$

[krue]

You should be able to look at the teeth on the starter gear and tell what's happening. Post a pic of them and it will help us diagnose your problem.

['68OrangeSunshine]

2 or 3 things crossed my mind since we looked at this problem:
1] The nose cone on the replacement unit was a little different.
2] If your flywheel bolts were not torqued to spec, could not your flywheel have shifted slightly? That might cause a problem like "crazyred" sketched out.
3] With the flywheel front cover in place, that gives you a ~1/32" shim there.
Give me a call if you want to torque down the flywheel. I'll back up the harmonic balancer nut.
It sounded like a mechanical, rather than an electrical problem.

[Coleman]

I think everyone had a piece of the puzzle correct. I grabbed my shop light and started looking up at how the starter and flywheel were sitting. It sure looked like the starter nose was really close to the flywheel so I pulled the starter back out and ran a tap into all the holes to make sure my bolts weren't bottoming out. Next I put back in the flywheel shroud, next my starter and tightend everything up and sha-bang, the starter works like a charm, no screech or ching ching. The starter must have moved or something in the past, I don't know, maybe my I just got lucky, the world is a better place now.