Jump to content

starter pinion problem


ultraslow

Recommended Posts

I own, am owned by?, a 1985 S3 with a 1.6l Xflow and 4spd. Recently my old Lucas starter quit.(it is a 25356A and it drives a 135 tooth ring gear) I sent it to a shop in CA to be rebuilt and upon it's return , the pinion no longer makes contact with the ring gear!!! The shop disavows any change of the pinion gear. My friends at Dave Bean actually measured all the starter pinions in their stock and they are the same diameter as the one I now have. I need a larger diameter pinion gear. Inexact measurements, at this point, say that 3/8 in larger on the radius could do thee trick.

Has anyone heard of a larger diameter starter pinion gear? I am desperate as the weather is great and I am stuck driving my Honda Insight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The pinion is being thrown out far enough. I have put clay on the pinion and the solenoid is indeed working as it should.

The mount on the bell housing is okay. no changes there also.

I have an eleven tooth pinion. The diameter and height are correct.

Ken Grey at Dave Bean has been working on this with me for at least two months and we ar both lost.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Every time we install the starter, if we don't get the exact right shim washers between it and the bell housing as it cam out with it does not engage. We can get a exact match replacement starter and it will not engage. More often than not we have to install, test, re-shim, re-test more than once to get it right. I have found that our cars to be very sensitive how the starter is shimmed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Problem solved, Bent motor mount, don't ask. Shifted mo=tor over and the pinion was missing the ring. Bizarre but true, Thanks for the input.

I'd rather be lucky that good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thx, I will add this to my growing list of odd-ball problems caused by Caterham's cr*p motor mounts. Seems to be an especial issue on pre year 2000 cars. As I have posted elsewhere, the mounts are good for abt 5000 miles, then time to be replaced, or at least alert to potential issues.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Problem solved, Bent motor mount, don't ask. Shifted mo=tor over and the pinion was missing the ring. Bizarre but true, Thanks for the input.

I'd rather be lucky that good.

 

Been following this thread . . . very interesting resolve. :rofl:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thx, I will add this to my growing list of odd-ball problems caused by Caterham's cr*p motor mounts. Seems to be an especial issue on pre year 2000 cars. As I have posted elsewhere, the mounts are good for abt 5000 miles, then time to be replaced, or at least alert to potential issues.

Are referring to the rubber assembly or the steel structure?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Problem solved, Bent motor mount, don't ask. Shifted mo=tor over and the pinion was missing the ring. Bizarre but true, Thanks for the input.

I'd rather be lucky that good.

 

I'm curious about this. When you say bad motor mount, do you mean one of the mounts for the starter motor itself to the bellhousing, or the engine mount? It's hard for me to see how an engine mount would have any effect on the pinion engagement given that the starter is rigidly mounted to the bellhousing which is rigidly mounted to the engine.

 

Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...