Grinding noise when trying to start
 

The boat has not been started in about 4-5 weeks, the battery went dead, and so i finally got around to charging it yesterday, once the battery was charged i turned the key to attempt to start it, and it started turning over but not firing, so then finally i got it to fire for like 3 secods then it died and now every time i turn the key it gets a really LOUD grinding sound, and i can see on the front of the motor its trying to sping very slowly....

My uncle things it might be the "annex drive" on the starter? im hoping its just the starter, any thoughts would be appreciated

reply here or give me a call for any other questions!

407-687-6559

Jimmy

Bendix drive, starters don't like low voltage or to be engaged for a long period of time. If the starter is damaged it can damage flywheel as well. If it's grinding do not continue to crank it. Remove start and inspect teeth on flywheel. Check starter or replace. If it was cranking slow before grinding started I think you should pull spark plugs and check for water in cylinders as good measure.

it was cranking fine before the grinding, and before today it was starting up perfectly fine.

I removed the starter, to fine minor shavings dude to the griding however, the starter when i jumped it dosnt seem to be acting right and that could be due to the fact that ... this is what it came out of the motor looking like:

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q...9/100_2226.jpg

then after wondering where the hell the other pieces where i put my hand down there near the fly wheel and pull this crinkled up peice of metal out from between the block and the flywheel:

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q...9/100_2229.jpg

then i decided to take the inspection plate off, and low and behold there was the broke off peice and the shim that you saw in the other picture, which tells me that the other garbled up piece of metal was another shim:

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q...9/100_2228.jpg

so, as far as the shimes go im thinking they sucked at putting the starter on and droped some shims in there and left them, now weather those were the result of the cap of the starter breaking off i have no idea... so now i get to buy a new starter and see if that fixes everything.

question, is there a diffrence between a normal 454 starter and a starter for a marine engine?

Yes there is a spark arrestor inside of marine electronics.

Yep, starters don't work worth a chit without a complete housing and support bushing!!:D

And, BTW, don't go cheap and put an automotive starter in your bilge. Think - KABOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Were the mounting bolts tight?

I had one break one as a result of the bolts coming loose.

You can stick a standard nose on your marine starter. Any local auto electric shop should be able to help you.

i would get back to pulling plugs and checking for water , i had a friend who's starter looked similar when a leaky riser locked the motor up , hope its all dry when you pull the plugs

Well i called up a local starter shop, really great place, got a new housing, and bendix drive and a new solenoid just to be safe. $40 and i threw it back on there.. that was an incredible task and i thought taking it off was hard :-D.

So anyways got the starter on and it crank over perfect and started up after giving it some gas.

And i think the bolts May have been slightly lose. not to bad but enough to make it do some damage, im not sure so its something ill monitor, and as far as the water goes, i dont know how water could get in there since i havnt had it in the water in a long time!

Spend the bucks and buy a high torque starter with a billet nose piece. The nose piece is indexable for clearance and will NEVER break. I had the same thing happen, only I have twins and of course it was the port motor that broke (had to pull the engine). I replaced both starters and one ring gear for insurance. Nothing worse than a starter failure on the water.... it really ruins the day!!:cool-smiley-026: