I just finished wiring up my 305 yesterday (swapping from 2.8L) and was able to get it to fire and run almost smoothly. A monsoon hit and i cleaned up and went inside.

A few hours later my brother gets home and wanted to hear it running, so i go out, give the gas a few pumps to prime, and turn the key, it turns over a few times, sarts to light, and backfires (at which point a pop, and metal hitting ground sound could be heard) and stalls.

I jump out and start looking aroud for a fallen wrench, or something (still assuming it just backfired and died) when i go around the passenger side, i found what used to be the cast section at the rear of the starter (that houses the drive gear) blown into about 5 or 6 pieces on the ground.

I have a spare starter, but i'm concerned this will happen again. THis is the first time I (or any of my uncles who are mechanics, pit crew chiefs, and car builders) have ever heard of or seen this happen. Any ideas on why , how, or what caussed this.

The starter did take a nasty fall off the workbench last week when I was reassembling things for the swap. The only possibility I can think of is it cracked on the fall, and when the engine backfired while the starter was still driving foreward caused enough force on the gear (and hence the cast section the gear rides in) to shatter the starter. Although as i remember (and according to the small dent) it landed on the 'can' section of the drive motor.

Thanks in advance for any insight

 

Hamster,

You don't need our speculation. It seems you've likely already solved the mystery. An existing crack in the die casting is probably the cause. A replacment starter is going to be a requirement either way, so you might as well get shopping.

Incidentally, there is a weak section between the pinion shaft and bull gear shaft on the old Mopar reduction gear starters that would frequently crack, but not cause the starter nose to fall to pieces like that. They'd just get more noisy than they already were, then fail.

Not that any of that applies to your situation, but the thought of a cracked starter nose reminded me of that. It also begs the question, "Is this a good time to install a reduction gear starter?"

 

OK... so i installed a new starter today, it turned over, and without even firing, blew the nose cone off. Even seems to be the same shape broken pieces.

 

Is there any chance your bolts are to long and bottoming out leaving the starter loose? Do you still have the brace from the back of the starter to the block?

 

What year is teh motor? Had an old style block with the misplaced bolt holes and it did the same thing. Cranked over real slow and one day the bell housing or whatever the aluminum part is called broke clear off. Jsut a WAG I guess it could also be the motor detonating or firing too early on startup. I had some detonation on start up from a stupid mistake of mine and it stoped the motor and starter dead in its tracks. Incidentally, Ill also be buying a new starter soon as the present new old one is dead. Hmmm... I wonder why?

 

CHECK YOUR TIMING


too far advanced will run ok, but a starter will only last a couple of starts till it breaks



I went through 6 starters(all the spares I had) till I figured this out