So about these starters dying in cold snaps - Diesel Forum

jordanmills · 12-18-2008, 11:29 PM

I think I figured it out. At least, what was wrong with mine.

The motor uses a basic brush motor. The brushes are carbon bricks, made to grind down as they keep contact with the (starter's) flywheel. The problem is that the casing doesn't allow this dust to drain well, and it gets caught up in the gear grease. This grease mixture gets all in the gears and makes things stick. It's not much of a problem in the summer, but when it gets cold the grease mix freezes.

This is really bad if it happens in the bendix gear. It seems to make the gear retract at a lower forward RPM. So the gear picks up the release of compression from the starting strokes and kicks back.

The solution, of course, was to rebuild the starter. I took it apart, washed it down (ajax works well, along with full immersion in ajax and water - note, do NOT immerse the flywheel or armature). I had to do a lot of scrubbing in hot water to get this nasty grease out.

Any way, I let it dry thoroughly, re-greased the gears and bearings, and put it back together. It's taking a few starts to get it back in order, but it gets better each time. I'm going to bet that I couldn't clean inside the bendix gear well, and that it's taking engine heat to work the gunk out. I think dropping it in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes would have helped a lot.

Any way, my truck is again starting almost reliably. And tonight my relpacement high torque starter from db electric came in. Oh well, now I have a mostly working spare.

DieselDeaf · 12-19-2008, 12:54 AM

A suposed hi torque DB starter (how much was that rascal?) and all that trouble cleaning the old one up, you should've just gotten a motorcraft reman and saved yerself a bunch of typing.

Worst yet wait till you find out that all ya needed was a fresh set of batteries, motorcraft of course. lol

02Boathauler · 12-19-2008, 11:09 AM

My starter did the same thing last winter, had a shop take it apart, clean, re-grease everything. Worked great until last week. The temps dropped and it started acting up again. I did not want to be stranded over a stupid starter. I just put a db electric one on Tuesday. They were on sale for $85 plus $15 for shipping.

TonkaThunder · 12-19-2008, 11:47 AM

Where do you get the high torque starters from?

BadDogPSD · 12-19-2008, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonkaThunder

Where do you get the high torque starters from?

DB Electric seems to have the best price around. Google them or visit their ebay store. You want the Nippon-Denso reduced gear starter.

jordanmills · 12-29-2008, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BadDogPSD

DB Electric seems to have the best price around. Google them or visit their ebay store. You want the Nippon-Denso reduced gear starter.

Well my starter got worse and then the motor blew (I probably screwed up the rebuild, the housing was cracked). I ordered the high torque starter from DB electric, but it doesn't fit. It's too big to fit between the frame cross member and the tranny, and the electrical connections are in the wrong spot so the wires don't fit.

But DB is cross-shipping me a stock model and shipping the old one back at their expense. I feel well taken care of by them, but I want to know why it doesn't fit!