Starter contacts welded closed!

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John E Davies

John E Davies

Joined
Aug 4, 2004
Threads
122
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Location
Spokane WA, USA
Has this happened to anyone? I had been noticing an ocassional quirk in my starter and was going to replace the contacts and plunger - - I had just not got around to ordering them from Cruiserdan.

Yesterday I cranked the engine and it sounded really weird - it's hard to describe, but it certainly wasn't normal - and when I released the key the starter kept grinding. The engine wasn't running, and if I had been smart I would have just turned the key again and gotten the engine running so the bendix would disengage. Frankly it just never occurred to me ;(

I hopped out and grabbed a hammer and smacked the starter through the wheelwell without results, so I unlocked my tool box and grabbed a 10 mm wrench and removed the negative battery cable.

My wife watched this whole episode, and wasn't exactly laughing out loud, but she was very amused by the Keystone Cops routine.

I guess the starter ran about 3 minutes before I stopped it. The body was warm but not blistering. I bought a Toyota reman starter and installed it. The Bendix on the old one was stuck - when I pushed on it it popped back into the disengaged position. The contacts looked pretty bad.

Question: if I had just started the engine the Bendix should have freed itself, correct?

How common is this event? The funny thing is how everyone has been talking about the contacts going out at 100K and my 96 LX450 has 100, 650 miles on it...

John
 
Add yourself to the club roster.


You are very far from alone. In a few cases alternators have been taken out as well.


There are numerous threads regarding this. IT IS CRITICAL that contacts (and plunger as far as I am concerned) be changed at the first signs of clicking.
 
John,

You're pretty new to IH8MUD but I believe you have been on the 80sCool list for a long time. The starter contacts have been discussed numerous (dozens and dozens?) of times on both forums. Everyone that reads these posts should not be caught off guard by a 100k mile starter acting strange.

>> Question: if I had just started the engine the Bendix should have freed itself, correct? <<

Maybe, and maybe not.

Consider yourself lucky as some stuck plungers have resulted in expensive alternator replacements along with the starter and the occassional wiring system and battery. A couple have caught fire.

-B-
 
John E Davies said:
Question: if I had just started the engine the Bendix should have freed itself, correct?

John
Click to expand...

Not in my case......it will just grind on the flywheel teeth. Be happy you caught it before the big $$.

John most of the time this happens the dash warning lights come on. Did yours?
 
This forum amazes me...constantly things happen on my cruiser and I log on here to find someone else has posted about what has just happened to me...weird.

landtank said:
The big issue is if the engine actually starts while it's engaged. That's when things get toasty.
Click to expand...

I think I can speak from experience here. Started the truck two days ago & it started. Had the radio on, so didn't here any odd noises, but after about 1/10 mile things are strange....dash lights putting on a show, voltmeter very low, and now with radio off there's an odd noise from engine (not grinding of starter against flywheel). OK...just stop the engine and then I realize my problem. The engine stopped, but starter was still going!!! Only happened 2-3 seconds - no harm done (that I've found anyway). I'll be placing my order for contacts ASAP with Dan.
 
I was a little confused about the symptoms at first - the starter never once did the "click click" noise. What I was seeing was very like a bad battery - the starter would engage and begin to crank the engine, and then the engine stopped after the first half second - it felt like a really weak battery. The next time the engine would spin and start just fine. I replaced the battery since it was pretty old and the electrolyte tested as only fair, but when the symptoms stayed I knew the starter was toast. I was literally ready to order the parts when the contacts welded.

I never noticed a bunch of dash lights coming on.

So I gather that the stuck contacts are as common as the "click click"?

I would really hate for my wife to be driving when the contacts welded - she would have just gotten out of the car and waited for a meltdown ....

John
 
John, I don't believe having the contacts stick like your's is 'normal'. I know it has happened to a few, it actually happened to me on a '95 Cruiser. I disconnected the battery quickly, which makes quite a sparks show as you found out. In my case I wacked on the starter and it never did it again...so who knows...

I'm actually rather surprised your original contacts made it to 100K miles, mine got really bad at clicking about 65K miles, (local Lexus dealership replaced them), then again about 110K miles (I did them myself).

I know what you mean about being worried that it might have happened to your wife. My wife would have just gotten out and probably watched it churn away, which even though not helpful, is probably the right thing to do. Just get away and let whatever happens happens, no since getting hurt over it.

Interesting I had the exact same thing happen while riding in a friend's '89 Mustang, one of the starter selenoids stuck, starter kept cranking, we wacked it with whatever we could find, finally stopped, kinda scares you.

Good Luck,
Mark Brodis
 
>> My wife would have just gotten out and probably watched it churn away,
>> which even though not helpful, is probably the right thing to do.
>> Just get away and let whatever happens happens, no since getting hurt over it.

Put on a quick disconnect and make sure the wife knows how to disconnect the battery. It wouldn't have helped bkgiii but it will stop a stuck starter and most other electrical problems.

-B-
 
Beowulf said:
>> My wife would have just gotten out and probably watched it churn away,
>> which even though not helpful, is probably the right thing to do.
>> Just get away and let whatever happens happens, no since getting hurt over it.

Put on a quick disconnect and make sure the wife knows how to disconnect the battery. It wouldn't have helped bkgiii but it will stop a stuck starter and most other electrical problems.

-B-
Click to expand...


B, if you would please pardon a stupidly simple question, I know there are many many many diferent types of quick disconnects but so many of them are so cheap and cheesy, do you have a particular style or brand that works well? In my case, with the turbo timer, I'm sure my wife would try to shut the engine off if anything happened, once she turned the key and the engine was still running, I know she would simply panic and not have the ability to turn the timer off (which can be done manually). Plus, in many situations this still would not work which is why we would want a quick disconnect. Thanks.
 
one option is to get a battery switch from a marine shop. a decent one will start about $25 and are usually set up for 1 or 2 batteries or both and can be mounted on the back of the battery box. a marine shop can also sell you the connectors to splice onto the cable. if possible get the ones with the heat shrink wrapping.
 
TC,

I am using one from NAPA. It has a big knob on top and is simple to disconnect. I didn't do any research as I was looking for something that would extend the positive cables for my Optima red top and the quick NAPA version served 2 functions; extension and disconnect.

-B-
 
Mine's from Sears, but sounds ID to B's. I put it on the positive terminal and painted the knob red to avoid any confusion in a panic. Got it to extend the battery cable to fit a larger traditional battery.

DougM
 
While there is the 'traditional' cut off at the battery (IIRC) race cars (rally, etc) have to have a battery disconnect inside the cab - allows you to reach over and kill it without getting your hands dirty / burned.

Cheers, Hugh
 
Careful.......

I did mine about 20K miles ago, (after a 10 minute drive home with the starter turning none the less) All was well for a year untill we were on vacation 4 hours from home and then we got the "click click click of death". At first no worries as I thougt it was like the gas light, just a warning and that we had a couple of weeks before complete failure. The vary next time I shut it down it took atleast a 100 trys to get it to engage. I did not have any tools with and was afraid of the out of town Toyota stealership so we drove home a day early without shutting down.

Sorry for the long story.....

Moral: When you do the contacts make absolutely sure they are laying flat and in full contact with the plunger. When I tore mine apart I had 1 contact that got turned just a bit when I originaly tightened it down. Once it started to wear, the tiny bit of contact it had with the plunger was not enuff.
 
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