starter woes

[screamin86]

Well I've been fighting starter problems eversince I've had the new motor in my truck and now its at the point I'm considering selling the truck because of it! I've had 5 diffrent starters on it and 2 of them have been autozone ones. The current one is for a 97 vortec truck and started great about 2times and now grinds and will not catch. I ended up having to shim it .120 and it sounded and started the best since I've had it too bad it lasted only 5 starts and did the same thing! I need it this weekend so I can move into my new house then ill pull it into the garage and ill return the starter and buy a starter and flexplate from summit or someone and start fresh and if I still have problems I'm gona either sell the whol truck or sell the motor and start a lsx swap early! Anyone have any suggestions? The flexplate isn't bad but its starting to get iffy from all the bad starting problems. Its a 4bolt mexico block and has both sets or starter bolt holes on it! The ones I use are the offset ones. I tried a starter with the inline holes and it wouldn't fit. HELP PLEASE!

[zieg85]

Do you have the correct knurled starter bolts?  Also do you have the bracket that bolts to the starter then to the side of the engine block?  I know how frustrating a starter problem is from experience...

[Captkaos]

stop buying autozone starters.  NAPAs are usually better. If the face is machined, I wouldn't buy it.

[screamin86]

This WILL be the last autozone starter I get I promise you that! I actualy changed the bolts last night to ones I got from work so ill swap them back and see if it helps.like I said if I can get it to start good to get me through this weekend then ill be able to pull it in the garage and swap the flexplate and starter with new ones.

[4x4orbust]

i had the same issue with my 73.   turned out one of the bolt holes in the block was cracked and caused the starter to kick away from the flywheel when engaged.   took me 8 starters and 3 flywheels to figure it out... 
also check if the holes in the block are oval out at all.

[screamin86]

I'm gona go buy some correct starter bolts tomarrow and see if that will help me and ill look it over for cracks also! What did you end up doing about it being cracked?

[zieg85]

i had the same issue with my 73.   turned out one of the bolt holes in the block was cracked and caused the starter to kick away from the flywheel when engaged.   took me 8 starters and 3 flywheels to figure it out... 
also check if the holes in the block are oval out at all.

BINGO, that is what is wrong with my 4.3L V-6 in my 86.  Haven't fixed it yet so I am interested in the solution.

[screamin86]

Alright today I bought new correct starter bolts and checked the starter area for cracks. Found no cracks and I removed all shims and tightend the starter and it was too tight I added a .040 shim and it wouldn't catch so I droped to a .020 shim and it was too tight. I ended up cutting a .040 shim in half and left the 020 shim in and used the half 040 shim on the outer bolt and I got it and it cranked perfect! I started it a few times and it seemed OK for now....I went ahead and ordered a summit sfi rated flexplate to replace mine its starting to look crummy. I drove the truck to work tonight and don't get off till 3:30am so hopefully it starts without me having to shim it again. I brought my tools and shims just in case :/

[bobcooter]

I had a 69 C-10 that started making a weird noise when cranking and found out the flex plate was cracked. Went to Auto-Zone and bought a new one and installed it. Then I started having all of the problems that you have described. It would work fine then it would act up. I could shim it and it would work well for a little while and back to acting up. I finally pulled the new flex plate and it turned out to be the wrong size when compared to the first one. Just a little smaller in diameter. Got the correct size from Advance Auto it it worked like a champ. Good luck...

[4x4orbust]

I'm gona go buy some correct starter bolts tomarrow and see if that will help me and ill look it over for cracks also! What did you end up doing about it being cracked?

I ended up parting the truck out, sadly.   wish i had the axles from it for my 82!     i was told it could be fixed, but i would have to pull the motor and tear down to the block so it could be welded and re-tapped.   might as well buy a new motor at that point.!! 

it took me a while to find the crack,  i didn't see it the first few times i looked...  clean around the mount holes real good, then begin inspecting. 

also, if you kept the original flywheel, match up the new one and be sure it is the right diameter as suggested by bobcooter

[screamin86]

Well from what I understand there should only be two diff flexplates. The 153 or 168 tooth. I have a couple of 153 flexplates and starters and the on on my truck is much bigger. I bought a 168 tooth flexplate from summit.

[VileZambonie]

[VileZambonie]

I scanned these a while back. I thought Chris put the in the tech section but I didn't see them.

[screamin86]

I can't see them on my phone! I will not be able to get to a actual computer for atleast a week. you can email them too me if you want!?