Hot Cable?

[BigB84]

Guess I should have done more research, especially with you guys. The autozone reman starter only lasted about three weeks, I brought my orginal to a local rebuilder. I have been waiting for a little over a week. Hopefull this rebuild will be a better ticket than the reman crap. Sounded funky the whole rtime it was in there anyway. Should have read all the post here before even attempting the Autozone junk.

 

[rosco]

Was the one from Autozone, a 24 volt starter? As normal preventive maintance goes, it wouldn't hurt to clean all those terminals & on all the cables. A small stainless steel tooth brush works well for cleaning the ends as well as the threads. I use a little dialectric grease on the terminal ends and the washers.

The reason for the insulation on those big wires, is to keep the smoke from leaking out!

Lee in Alaska

 

[thedeliverator]

BigB,
Hope you kept the receipt for that AutoZone starter - you'll be replacing it again soon enough. In my experience, anything reman from that chain isn't worth much except as a doorstop. Also as CCatlett let on, AutoZone can't test a 24V starter properly, their machine isn't capable of it.

Have you converted to 12V from the military 24V system? If you use a 12V starter in a 24V system, you'll burn up starters on a regular basis until you get a true 24V one. AutoZone doesn't have it in their system (at least they didn't a few months ago when I needed one), but NAPA does under the 'heavy truck' catalog.

The big hint that you've got a 12V starter in a 24V truck is that it spins up real fast - in fact, about twice as fast as it should. This works fine for a short period of time, if everything is within spec - but just a bit of wear here, a touch too much clearance there, and the bendix won't engage, or you'll crank too long and something will overheat.

 

[BigB84]

I had asked the guy at Autozone for a 24v. He advised that the one he had in stock was the only one he could provide for my application. Don't have too much confidence in his awareness of 12 v. 24 vold applications.

 

[thedeliverator]

He advised that the one he had in stock was the only one he could provide for my application.

This is register-biscuit speak for "I have no idea what the hell you just said but I'm going to sell you something to make you go away." You've got a 12V unit.

 

[clinto]

He advised that the one he had in stock was the only one he could provide for my application.

This is register-biscuit speak for "I have no idea what the heck you just said but I'm going to sell you something to make you go away." You've got a 12V unit.

I'd have to agree with that-the ONLY way to get something correct from a parts house is to know what you need ahead of time and walk in and say "I need X part #".

 

[BigB84]

I Finally recieved my oem starter from the local rebuilder. I installed it on Saturday Morning. She started right up and ran very good all day. I ran some errand around town, turning off and restarting about 5-6 times with no problems. Woke up Sunday and tried to start and the firts noise she make was a grinding kind of screeching noise. I only held the key for a fraction of a second. Then when I tried again, she started right up twice in a row. Frustrated, I just walked away for the day and haven't really had the courage to go and try today. I'm getting tired of dumping loads of money in starters. Any body have any insight into my problem. Bad Reman job? Do I need some type of shim? Faulty install?

 

[doghead]

I'm not familiar with the 1009/6.2L but I know on my older Chevys(gas) you could get a shim for the starter. If it wasn't right it would grind or squeal occasionally.

 

[thedeliverator]

doghead's assumption is correct - the 6.2L diesels use shims for the stock starter and some remans. Some replacement starters don't need them - these will say NO SHIM on them. There may be different sizes of shim, I'm not sure since mine doesn't use one.

I've also had starters grind and not turn the engine over from the bolts loosening up after a few uses - doesn't hurt to retorque them after a week or so. It could also be the bolts have stretched and are bottoming out - new ones can be had at the Chevy dealer.

 

[BigB84]

Ok! So I went to chech the starter bolts and retourque if necessary. The bolt closest to the oil pan was a little loose. I tightened it, and she started great. Unfortunately, she would not restart after being turned off. I again went and checked the bolts and the same bolt was loose. I thought I might have a bad bolt so a began to remove both bolts when a helicoil fell out of the bore on the engine. I guess the military had problems w/ this bore in the past and patched w/ a helicoil. As I continued to remove to starter, I noticed that when the helicoil had let loose, the loose bolt had cracked the housing on my newly rebult starter. What a freaking day.

 

[doghead]

Oh dang! That is a real bummer!

 

[CCATLETT1984]

my starter doesnt have a hole where yours cracked, that is major bad luck dude.

be sure to buy new starter bolts from the chevy dealer (get them from the dealer, not autozone) when you put the new helicoil in.
also do you have the support bracket on the front of the starter installed, its needed to relieve stress on the starter bolts.

 

[ida34]

I got a replacement nose cone on Ebay and fixed one of mine with that. It was about $20. My starter was rebuilt and the guy at Selfridge ANG base fencing shop installed it and just after he did the nose cone shattered and it fried the flex plate ring gear. When I was picking up my truck the guy fixing the fence at DRMO came up and told me all about the truck. Anyway, since your starter is rebuilt just get a replacement nose cone and install it. Mine ran great until I sold it. As far as I know it still runs great.

 

[BigB84]

My brother helped put the new helicoil in yesterday. We were able to have the stater repaired at the same rebuilder. All installed w/ the front support bracket. As of right now, eveything is starting good. I'll just recheck the tourqe on the bolts after I run it for a while. After all that was done, I was able to start a fun project istead of aggravating repairs. I running all the wireing for a stero install. I'll post some pics of the project later this afternoon.

 

[Mike_Pop]

Somebody once asked if I were a Giant Fan. I said, "No, I'm a large air conditioner."

Ok...stupid humor. I'm an Elvis fan too!

 

[Mike_Pop]

Are you a big Elvis fan?

No, I'm just a normal sized fan.

Sorry...forgot to quote this message before.