Previous owner stated that starter was going out, so he replaced it, and found that one of the mounting bolts was loose. Now, about 5% or 10% of the time, it makes a grinding sound when I try to start it, but doesn't engage. Rest of the time it works flawlessly. I am leaning toward starter not shooting the gear out all the way, and doing damage to flywheel teeth. Here are pics of flywheel. You can see some metal dust below, which isn't a good thing... And that tooth at the far right!!! Starter teeth look fine. Any suggestions? I am thinking new starter...and new ring gear.
Looks like the starter drive gear is not deep enough into the flywheel gear. Your photo shows that it pushes all the way in,it just doesn't have enough tooth contact. I'm not sure of all the different combos of flywheel gears and starter drive gears,but I'm sure you'll get a response from someone who knows for sure! I just love how Ford has 50 different combinations of things to do 1 function! Master cylinders are another sore point,to me! If you're going to make something different,make it a lot different! I spent a bunch of time trying to get the brake line back in my rebuilt master cylinder. One went in fine,the other would go in about ½ turn and get tight. I fought with that for over an hour and then finally determined the line nut was a squeak bigger than the one that the cylinder was for. I ended up returning it and got another one,which looked identical,except that both lines went right in! Sorry,didn't mean to rant on,I've just run into this kind of thing quite often! I think you'll find another starter drive gear,with a slightly larger diameter will fix you up!
Notice that this is posted in the Other Automotive section. It should read "Other Automotive and Marine" because this is on a Volvo-Penta 4.3 GL boat motor. I think the reman starter the previous owner put on has bolt holes that are too big, and there is a little slop in the starter, as well as the gear not shooting all the way out to engage 100%. Volvo dealer has new (not rebuilt) starter in stock for $200 so I will be picking that up and installing it today, and see if that fixes my problem. I will wait until this winter to swap that ring gear, unless it continues to make noise and fail to start. It is the wrong time of year to be tearing the boat apart for repairs. Water here is already 70* and we have been out on the boat every weekend for almost 2 months. Now warm enough to wakeboard and swim.
Well, purchased new starter, and it appears that the distance from gear to the bearing that it bumps against at the tip while engaged...about 1/4" longer. Stabbed it in and no noise on 3 tries. Feels like it has a bit more torque, as well. Won't know if fixed for sure, because it was an intermittent problem in the first place, but i feel confident that it is going to be OK.
Scopper, I would not doubt the differance in the starters made a big differance in the performance of starting. Sometimes I wonder about reman parts because have you ever noticed that when you go to a dealer for a part they need to know everything down to the color of the car in order to assure you of getting the right part?? Yet you go to a parts house and they only need to know year make and model size of engine and sometimes is it an auto or manuel tranny and the same part fits 15 differant years and interchanges with other makes. It must be a magical transformation during rebuild. Glad to hear you can enjoy it for the summer.
if the flywheel performs fine with new starter, I will most likely not replace it at all, until the first time I have to pull the engine. If it acts up on me over the summer, I will pull the engine and swap out the ring gear this winter. I don't think it will be an issue. I will just keep an eye out on both gears.
I'm glad it was easy! When I looked at your photo,I was thinking it looked like a 50s-60s Ford truck,where you could actually take a pan off the bottom of the bellhousing and inspect the inerds! I greatly miss those days!
