[duffiel3]

This is my first post on here, so bear with my ignorance of engines.

When starting my 1986 50hp Mercury engine, it has been sounding loud, kinda like a grinding type of loud. When i lift the motor case off I can see tiny shavings of metal. Well, i guess tonight the engine had enough. It seems that the top half of the teeth on the bendix (where they hit the flywheel) have been grinded off.

I know I am going to have to get a new bendix, but can anyone tell me why that happens and how to avoid it happening again? Thanks.

[jeff_smith_0423]

The bendix gear is made of a weaker alloy than the flywheel and is essentially designed to fail, protecting the much more expensive flywheel.

I would hazard to say that your starter motor isn't fully retracting your bendix gear (or at least didn't at one time) and caused it to wear.

Starter motors are rebuildable. A starter shop can do it for you our you could attempt following the instructions in your service manual. What? No service manual? Save yourself lots of time and money. Get one.

Originally Posted by duffiel3

This is my first post on here, so bear with my ignorance of engines.

When starting my 1986 50hp Mercury engine, it has been sounding loud, kinda like a grinding type of loud. When i lift the motor case off I can see tiny shavings of metal. Well, i guess tonight the engine had enough. It seems that the top half of the teeth on the bendix (where they hit the flywheel) have been grinded off.

I know I am going to have to get a new bendix, but can anyone tell me why that happens and how to avoid it happening again? Thanks.

[duffiel3]

Thanks for the reply. That sounds like it very well could be the problem. Is that a major repair job (i.e. time and moolah)?

Any other thoughts about the issue?

[jeff_smith_0423]

I've never had to do it. I got my information from a repair manual. While doing a compression test, my bendix gear wouldn't retract, so I did a bunch of reading on starter rebuilds. Figuring i was going to have to rebuild the thing anyway, i fired it up. Bendix retracted as soon as the motor caught, and hasn't stuck since.

Looking at my Merc, it doesn't look like a difficult job to remove the unit but I would leave the rebuild to a shop. I tend to cause more problems than I solve lately.

Originally Posted by duffiel3

Thanks for the reply. That sounds like it very well could be the problem. Is that a major repair job (i.e. time and moolah)?

Any other thoughts about the issue?

[jeff_smith_0423]

Oh, and welcome to iBoats.