starter shims

oldboat1

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Apr 3, 2002
Messages
9,612
I have a Chevy 305 inboard, and had periodic starter problems most of the spring and summer -- seemed like a bad bendix, as the starter wouldn't engage the ring gear. It turns out the Bendix was bad on the starter, or at least needed service as part of the starter rebuild, but the problem came back. I finally found on the internet that Chevy starters often need to be shimmed -- did that and (knock on wood) the problem is solved. I didn't know that there are shim kits for just that purpose. My starter is the kind that attaches by three bolts into a hole on the rear of the bell housing -- not the typical kind, I guess, but with the starter gear angled steeper into the flywheel ring gear, it all meshes properly.<br /><br />I thought I would pass this along, in case somebody else is baffled by a starter that seems to spin OK, but doesn't seem to engage the flywheel....
 

geriksen

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Nov 15, 2002
Messages
111
Re: starter shims

another consideration,<br />If you have broken ring gear teeth or a physically broken gear on the starter you may have a leaking exhaust manifold. On the initial crank after it has been sitting, if it cranks slow or seems to crank and stop you have a cylinder full of water. It is a very common problem. If you continue to have problems after you shim the starter. Remove the park plus and crank the engine over (with the ignition disabled) and see if water squits out of one of the cylinders. If it does you ahve found your problem. Replace the manifold and riser on that side.
 

oldboat1

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Apr 3, 2002
Messages
9,612
Re: starter shims

Interesting stuff. The performance problems described -- starter seemingly hanging up when restarting with a hot engine -- have been a problem too. The plugs are due for replacement, and I'll check and see if any are cleaner than they should be. The exhaust manifolds and risers had been taken off and cleaned about a year before I bought the boat, so I had hoped they wouldn't be a problem.
 
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