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Hello,
I have a 95 4.3 TBI from an S-10 blazer that I got from a junk yard. I also got the starter from the Junk yard. I have been doing a lot of tuning lately (a lot of cranking the motor with the starter). My engine would start cranking for a split second, then the starter would grind. Then it would start just fine. It became more and more over time and when it started doing it 60% of the time I figured the starter gear was boogered up and it should be replaced. I went to advance auto and got a NEW one mounted it up and it grinds every time without starting. The starter did NOT come with shims. I actually never had to shim a starter before (the old one did not have any shims on it either).
Do I need to shim this?
Is it the wrong size gear on the the starter? (the teeth on the flex plate look small compared to starter)
Is there an issue with the flex plate? (The vehicle has not been driven in a few years).I would appreciate any help I can get.
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see if this helps.
https://www.ericthecarguy.com/engine-videos/670-how-to-shim-a-starter
[quote=”college man” post=179488]see if this helps.
https://www.ericthecarguy.com/engine-videos/670-how-to-shim-a-starter%5B/quote%5D
Yes I watched that video on youtube. I am looking into that now. I was wondering about shims because my old starter did not need them for so long and the new one did NOT come with any. I was also wondering where to get them.
and in case its not supposed to be shimmed, the starter might just be bad and not fully retract, causing damage to both the ring gear and the starter.
Whatever the case, I would strongly recommend replacing the starter too, if it ate the ring gear, the starter teeth are damaged too, and it’ll wreck the new ring gear.
I am thinking that this is a bad starter. Does anyone else agree?
The starter came with a sticker on it stating “No Shim Required”. I hooked it up, bolted it up and it sounds like terrible grinding. I did a lot of research yesterday, including finding this forum and figured I needed to shim it (did not see the sticker until I spent two days tracking down shims and bolts).
It is a 95 4.3l TBI with a TH350 behind it. My old starter was starting to grind, but sometimes it would crank normally. This new one just grinds. I decided to through the smallest shim in there (1/64) and I get the same result. I took a very short video of it with my wife cranking it:
I also took a video of all the clearance I have around it with the shim in:
I am trying to tune this engine with megasquirt so I was doing a lot of starts on the old starter. Now it just grinds.
Should I just return the starter and try a new one?
Should I return the starter and get a reman one or junkyard one? I don’t know anything about rebuilding starters.I am not sure why my old one started grinding and why that is all the new one does?
It looks like the starter gear slides out the whole width of the ring gear which I read was bad. Should I get a shim to push it back some? I am not sure how to insert that kind of shim on this kind of starter (with a nose cone). Do I have to take it apart?
I also took a couple of pics too:
With the advice of some people on here and also thinking that if the starter has a sticker that says: “no shims required” and it requires shiming, I should be entitled to a refund or exchange.
The starter that I bought was a carquest “new” starter for a 95 4.3l from a chevy blazer. When I brought it back to the auto parts store the woman grabbed another “new” starter from carquest for the same engine. When she pulled it out, it had shims attached (the straight kind for a diagonal bolt pattern in the nose cone) to it and there was NO sticker on it that stated “no shims required”. Instead it has a sticker on it that says “before returning to the store please call this number… We have certified ASE techs to help you”. Feeling froggy we decided to switch them out. I did notice one small difference. The gear on the new new starter was sticking out of the nose cone a little bit.
When I got home I decided to bolt it up without any shims so I can see the clearances and then decide how many to put in. The clearances to the first new starter always seemed really tight. The clearances on the new new starter seemed much more open. So much more then then what I read about. I put a 1/8″ drill bit between the flexplate and start armature and could fit a second one in (1/4″ clearance – double what I read you are supposed to have). I decided that before I get into cutting shims to close the gap, I will go ahead and try it: SUCCESS!
I will see how it continues…
Lesson learned: When things are strange at the foot of the circle K, go back to the parts store and exchange it.
[quote=”Ironwill11″ post=179757]With the advice of some people on here and also thinking that if the starter has a sticker that says: “no shims required” and it requires shiming, I should be entitled to a refund or exchange.
The starter that I bought was a carquest “new” starter for a 95 4.3l from a chevy blazer. When I brought it back to the auto parts store the woman grabbed another “new” starter from carquest for the same engine. When she pulled it out, it had shims attached (the straight kind for a diagonal bolt pattern in the nose cone) to it and there was NO sticker on it that stated “no shims required”. Instead it has a sticker on it that says “before returning to the store please call this number… We have certified ASE techs to help you”. Feeling froggy we decided to switch them out. I did notice one small difference. The gear on the new new starter was sticking out of the nose cone a little bit.
When I got home I decided to bolt it up without any shims so I can see the clearances and then decide how many to put in. The clearances to the first new starter always seemed really tight. The clearances on the new new starter seemed much more open. So much more then then what I read about. I put a 1/8″ drill bit between the flexplate and start armature and could fit a second one in (1/4″ clearance – double what I read you are supposed to have). I decided that before I get into cutting shims to close the gap, I will go ahead and try it: SUCCESS!
I will see how it continues…
Lesson learned: When things are strange at the foot of the circle K, go back to the parts store and exchange it.[/quote]
keep us posted on how things go.
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