Hopped into the car the other day to go for a spin. No start. Battery all fine, the problem seems to be the starter motor (again!) as it's cranking but not firing. The car can be roll started and will start a few minutes later happily.

Anyway, that's not my point.

Can anyone recommend a high-torque starter for an '84 carrera 3.2, and, where to buy? Any country fine.

Thanks
RedShadow

 

maybe i miss understand but if the car is cranking but not firing it is definitely NOT the starter motor , as the ONLY function the starter motor serves is to crank the engine.

 

True and that's what I thought but the fact that it can be roll/bump started makes me think maybe it was cranking slowly.....? Am I wrong in my train of thought?

-matt

 

must be ... but wouldn't a bad battery do this too though ? hmm....

 

Yes, yes it would. And I, as a Canuck such as yourself, question this 'good battery' thing. How do you [OP] know that it is a good battery? Did you get it tested?

 

As stated above, your comments conflict with one another. If you indeed want to buy a hi torque starter, Zim's in Dallas (www.allzim.com) sells them, and I believe Pelican Parts does too. I bought one at Zims a couple of years ago, about 1/2 the size/weight of a stock unit.

 

I have to recommend the stock starter over the high torque one. The reason is that a lot of guys run into problems with the gear teeth meshing with the stock flywheel. It's something that is best left to engine rebuild time or some time when you can get the right starter gear teeth/ gear lash and correct amount of offset.

As for starting problems, please list what items were checked or corrected, and maybe we can troubleshoot it here.

 

I'm not sure who had the problems, but my starter, and I knew of about 6 others in the DFW area the same, has no problems. They all bolted right in just fine. Maybe there's a difference with brands, or your experience is with another car?

 

Thanks all for the above. I've been through this before (a year ago) and it was the starter. I had the battery tested and it's fine (6 months old). I'm getting exactly the same symptoms this time.

So what was the brand of hi-torque starter? Where'd you get it?

 

I have not had any problems with my high torque starter. I would recommend one as well. No need to stick to stock. If someone had an issue it was probably a defective starter, flywheel or combo..
First I would check the battery... if it is over 4 years old.. Id probably go out and buy an Interstate MTP 91. They are about $150.
If I recall my high torque starter was about $250.

 

Is the current starter getting full voltage?

John

 

Hi, folks,
Not trying to hi-jack the thread, but need to replace my starter soon on an '86 coupe 911, due to an
unnerving grind after engine cranks and starter is disengaged. It is as though the solenoid is sluggish
about engaging and disengaging. Sometimes it will miss on trying to engage the flywheel at all and I
can hear the starter turn but it will not turn the engine over. So my question while we are talking starters is does the engine have to be out to change the starter. I did a search but did not find anything useful. Thanks as always. Mark

 

no problem Pingman that is no thread hijack.
No the engine does not need to be out. Get the back end on a good set of jackstands under the torsion bar covers and you can get right to the starter motor. i think there is only 2 bolts holding her on. If i were you I would want to get in their with a strong light and see if I can see the starter ring gear. Have someone turn over the engine slowly by hand and inspect the ring gear teeth. If any of those are damaged or missing. NOW the engine has to come out. Not a real big deal either actually.

Good luck

 

Long enough arms to hug the transaxle is a help. One of the nuts should be a barrel nut, so a set of metric allen sockets is a must.

 

It sounds like your starter motor is loose, since you say sometimes it just spins and doesn't turn the motor over, sometimes it hangs instead of retracting the pinion gear. My guess is that the top nut is loose. If it turns out that the starter is tight, then it is not a big deal to change the starter with the engine in the car, as has already been stated. However I would change the barrel nuts to a hex nut, preferably one with a flanged base. Take your barrel nuts to a hardware store such as Orchard Supply and have the store person give you two matching nuts. This will allow you to tighten them with a normal metric socket. The tightening torque for the starter to the transmission is 33ft lbs, and the positive cable to the starter is 7.5 ft lbs.

If it turns out that you need to change the types of connectors (say from loop to spade) and you need to crimp some new wire onto the starter motor harness, use thick gauge wire, such as primary wire. Otherwise you may not get enough current to the starter to kick the solenoid out and spin the motor.