hey guys i have a 83 ta 305 5 speed and the problem that i have is that my starter isnt meshing fully with my flywheel and when i try to start the car when the starter catches when i let off the key the car still turns over like im holding the key on. Ive checked the purple ignition wire with a test light and it only lights up when i turn the key. its kinda got me stumped.
anyone have any ideas??

 

When you say still turning over, is your engine running at this point and the starter is still engaged?

 

Did you just replace the starter? If so you may need to put some shims so it will connect properly.

 

no the engine is not running at this point its just turning over trying to start. Ive tried to shim it when i took the starter off to put the new solenoid on the starter had 2 thin shims on it. Ive never had a good starter to flywheel engagement snice ive owned the car the flywheel teeth are fine i checked all of them. its like for some reason when i let off the key the starter gear is still getting power from the ignition switch but its not. ive just replaced the solenoid too could it be in the ignition switch or the ignition key cylinder?

 

There has got to be a relay in the circuit thats getting stuck. I don't have a wiring diagram handy to check. You can check the wires at the steering colum to see if theres still power after you release the key.

 

So i would just check the wires on the ignition cylinder or on the ignition switch itself? i got the wiring diagram outta a haynes manual and it doesnt show a relay just the ignition switch going straight to the clutch start switch

 

I was kind of thinking that myself after I posted seeing as the wires are 12 guage or maybe 10 guage at the cylinder. I'm pretty sure it's a simple circuit. In that ignition bundle is a ground, run, and accesory wire. Your concerned with the crank wire I would think. Should be the same wire you would use if you were to install a starter kill or Auto Starter. Should only see 12 volts in the crank position i.e key forward. Once that key is released you should lose the 12 volts on that wire but maintain 12 volts on the run wire. Another thing you can try, and its a little hazerdous is to physicaly cross or jump the terminals right on the starter as a test. This will crank the starter. If it releases when you release the jump, then you know its not your starter. Again you must be carefull. If you choose this method make sure you car is secured on jack stands. One way or another you will isolate your problem to the starter or the circuit.

 

Ok thanks EDGE ill have to take out the cylinder and test it to see whats going on ill post back when i get that done hopefully it is the problem. Thanks

 

I blew through a bunch of starters doing this exact thing. I had one old beat up starter that would never die. But I kept trying to use ministarters and they kept doing that, and my original starter that died about 20k miles ago did the same thing.

I finally due to other reasons just wired a pushbutton straight to it. But I think by the point they're just free spinning with the key off (mine wasnt engaging the flywheel. Key would be out of the car and everything, but it would just whine and spin. I'd have to disconnect the neg battery cable to make it quit) they're already broken. THe frustrating thing is you put em on a test stand at a parts store and they'll behave completely normal. But I go put my old POS giant starter back on and it acts just like it always has. I go put a new ministarter on and it'd work fine for half a dozen starts then start doing the same thing.

For the record I kept putting my old tortured old school starter back on and it would always work, but the problem was my long tubes would heat soak it and it woudlnt start until it cooled down which is irritating when you're learning how to drive a stick and it's geared WAY too tall. So I finally wired in a remote solenoid and a pushbutton, still didnt fix it, but when I moved to a ministarter again I never had any more trouble out of it.

I dont know what the deal was with it, but it drove me crazy. So as a last resort, you can always do a pushbutton... but I'd suggest tryin to actually fix it first. But blowing through starter after starter gets expensive. But every time I'd test the circuit it'd act completely normal.

 

could be your starter solenoid is bad.. also you could try greasing the shaft of the starter what could be happening is when the solenoid engages it uses low amperage to control high amperage when the gear spins out to the full extension your solenoid is making full contact with high amperage and if the gear does not want to return it will cause you to still have full power to the starter.. also check your shims by using a piece of paper between the starter gear and flywheel the paper should form perfectly between them but should not rip... hope this helps..

 

My solenoid is new i put it on last night i couldnt say how old the starter is, it was on the car when i bought it last year i just started havin this problem 3 days ago, i thought it was the solenoid the car started good 2 times and the 3rd time it did this i checked the ignition switch at the steering column and the starter and it doesnt seem anything wrong there, it seems like the same problem as InfernalVortex had with his its just that the start gear is still forward and spinning the motor over until i unhook the battery. i checked the clutch saftey switch too it is working right, but when i left off the key and get outta the car to unhook the battery fast i dont have the clutch pressed in i really dont know what to do about this its kinda hard to trust it now. would there be anything that i could look into?

 

sounds like perhaps the starter gear is actually hanging up on the flywheel, holding the solenoid closed. The ignition switch just sends power to the solenoid, to get it to do its trick. The fat cable running down to, on the feed side of the circuit it closes, is always hot, so, if the solenoid sticks, for whatever reason, the starter motor will continue to run.

could be any number of things that are causing the trouble. If the purple wire does NOT have power, and the starter motor is still running, the switch circuit is not the problem. The starter motor is. This is one reason that I very rarely just changed the solenoid, it hangs out in the same environment as the starter motor itself, so, chances are good, if one fails, the other is soon to follow. Not to mention, a complete starter isn't that much more expensive than solenoid by itself.

 

Also when the starter keeeps going its not turning over that fast at all the battery is full charged the motor will turn over fast until i let off the key then slow right down like 1 rev per sec like the battery is dead but its not would a bad ground cause this problem?

 

an incorrectly shimmed starter will cause it to continue to turn what happens is when the starter gear fully engages there is too much tension to let the gear return causing the solenoid to stick open(or a closed circuit) also you might want to grease the shaft that the starter gear runs on.

 

ive tried shimming it and still doesnt work.How do i get the inspection plate off to see the fly wheel ring gear and the starter gear at the same time is it at the bottom of the bell housing? ive tried all different shims and ive had to luck.

 

Pull the plastic cover off the bell housing. You should be able to see the starter engage. Have you tried just shimming one side of the starter to pull it away from the flywheel?

 

i cant seem to find the plastic cover on the bellhousing lol, i havent tried to shim one side of it yet ill try that today is the cover on the bellhousing on the same side as the starter?

 

Oops. My mistake. I was speaking as if you had the 700R4 Auto. I'm not sure if there is an access cover on the T-5 Bell housing. Ploegi brought up a good point. That starter is always hot as was mentioned. You just may be to tight to the flywheel.

 

Yea ill try to put a shim or 2 on the outside bolt to see what it does thanks ill let ya know

 

I think you may want to try the inside bolt. You want to pull it away from the flywheel

 

i tried shimming it both ways and it still does it. i rotated the flywheel and some of the teeth are ground down a little i think a new flywheel is the best bet anyone know a cheap replacement that can be shipped to canada?

 

Hey! I have an 1987 IROC Z28 5spd 305 5.0L and the clutch pedal hit the boards and fluid gushed out under the tranny.

Took it to a bunch of Tranny shops, no concensus, ie clutch, release bearing, etc.

Found a shop with reasonable hourly rate, who took it for a ride, before the clutch pedal thing, and tells me not the clutch, not the tranny, not the rear end, maybe u-joints, definately release bearings.

After the clutch pedal boarded, took it to him, and gave him the priority to the clutch pedal, release bearings and a leaking water pump.

When I checked back, he was installing a new starter motor.

Says that the starter wouldn't start, just clicked, and also clicked on a bench test.

Isn't there a clutch/tranny lockout so that the starter engine will only engage when the clutch is engaged?

Anyway, prior to the clutch, starter,water pump stuff, he gave a 10 hour estimate to redo rad coolant system, install center link, y-pipe, catalytic converter, rear tail pipe adjustments so my rear spoiler doesn't go up in flames, install a new release bearing, say $600.00, my parts supplied.

At the end of the day, no universal joints installed, $1735.36.

He installed a new water pump, starter, flushed the coolant system, which makes it the 3rd time in 3 weeks, two from Cdn Tire and then his.

What could make the starter not start? The clutch lockout?

Really need some soothing over on this one.

Richard.