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mechanics of starter teeth engagement

hi there,

am having some trouble with my vw starter motor. every morning the starter will not respond when turning the key. I must then resort to gently rocking the car while in 4th to free it.

i *really* dont want to go down the road of pulling the engine just to change the flywheel ring. i am trying to understand just what part of the tooth is causing this failure to engage.

i have prepared some small (41kb + 13kb) but detailed photos of the pinion & flywheel for some opinions.

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  1. if i change just the pinion, how much time do you thing this will buy me?
  2. would it help if i filed rough spots on the flywheel teeth, one by one through the starter port?
  3. if i do nothing, will it get any worse?or should my 'rocking car in 4th' trick keep me from getting stranded
  4. is it normal for cars to have some wear on the flywheel ring/pinon? could my problem be due to a sticking solenoid?the lubricant was all dried out.

thx B

Reply to
beerismygas
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That all looks & sounds like it's down to a sticking solenoid, try cleaning & rebuilding the starter first,

Reply to
Duncan Wood

I agree the solenoid is either not throwing the pinion at all or not throwing it far enough to bridge the contacts for the starter motor.

AJH

Reply to
AJH

The staarter ring, and pinion teeth look fine. They always show signs of wear, but usually the wear has to be pretty severe, before the starter stops working. You don't say what type of starter motor it is. If it's a pre-engaged type, it could be down to a dirty or faulty starter motor contact. IOW the solenoid is engaging the pinion, but the contacts for the starter are not making a good contact everytime. Or as Duncan suggests, a sticky solenoid is not throwing the the pinion far enough to engage the starter contacts. If it's an inertial type, it could be a similar problem with the solenoid switch passing enough current to throw the pinion into engagement, but not passing enough to turn the engine over. If you can't get the contacts to make a good connection by cleaning, the easiest repair would probably be to replace the solenoid,. That applies to either type. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

its non inertial type. thanks for commenting on the conditionof the ring. i wasnt sure what rings in other peoples cars looked like.is this about normal for 100K?

Reply to
beerismygas

there are two types of starter for vw, maybe you have the wrong one?

Reply to
mrcheerful

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "beerismygas" saying something like:

They look fine for that mileage and would last another 100k yet. You'd have to be seeing a well-chewed ring before worrying about it. It's a sticky solenoid, dirty contacts, as has been said.

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

I'd say they look very good for that sort of mileage. Nothing wrong with them at all. I've seen ring gears that have most of the leading edge of the teeth worn away in 4 places, that have still not been giving any starting problems. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

What VW is it. The older VW starters have the front bush for the starter motor in the bell housing of the engine. If this bush is worn it could be the cause of your problem.

John

Reply to
John

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