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Starter will not disengage

Tiny
ROSS WEILAND
  • MEMBER
  • 1986 CHEVROLET TRUCK
  • 5.0L
  • V8
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 150,000 MILES
I have a small block Chevrolet that I have been trying to get to daily driver status and it has crapped out on me. Right now it cranks abnormally sounds like the starter wont disengage, but it does not turn over right away it will seem to catch which slows the cranking speed dims the lights then turns over and dies. I have replaced the starter and shimmed it to the 1/8" that is required battery has been recharged I replaced the carburetor fuel filter and I have new spark plugs. I am about to install and wires I am hoping but I do not feel like it will fix it. I replaced the starter because it was become difficult to start I believe because the headers were to close and may have over heated it, new red top optima that I had charged before I installed it, replaced the carburetor with a known working one because the old one I noticed had fuel coming out of the choke plate and hitting the hood while it was open. So I also am replacing the spark plug in case the old ones had gotten fouled with fuel. I am thinking fault starter or fuel pump is acting up. The abnormal starting also makes me think it could be the timing chain. Someone please tell me what I can do I am lost.
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Monday, November 28th, 2016 AT 8:33 PM

9 Replies

Tiny
HMAC300
  • MECHANIC
  • 48,601 POSTS
Seeing your question I see you replaced carburetor because it was hitting hood, etc. Is it possible the insulation on hood is getting sucked into carburetor not allowing enough air to go in. Also have you checked resistance of pick up coil and had ignition module checked at auto parts. From your description this has been modified so what type of system does it have for ignition? Cam? Etc. Pickup coil should have 400-1000 ohms no higher and also the wires can wear out and short against the distributor housing. So check pick up by moving wires to module.
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Tuesday, November 29th, 2016 AT 5:58 AM
Tiny
ROSS WEILAND
  • MEMBER
  • 6 POSTS
I do not see any installation missing from hood but I only had the cleaner housing off to try and figure out the issue the underside of the filter did smell like fuel also. I have not checked the resistance of the pickup model. It has an one cam and distributor and I made new wires for it three or four months ago 8 mm. Also since I forgot to mention before I replaced the starter I did replace the p/s exhaust header with one that does not interfere with the start. When I switched the carburetors out I replaced all the vacuum lines and check valves. Also have replaced all the grounds a new months ago as well. At this point I am going to use a gift card I got for Autozone, lol and get a fuel pump and see if I can use the warranty on the starter well after I check the resistance like you mentioned.
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Tuesday, November 29th, 2016 AT 9:08 AM
Tiny
HMAC300
  • MECHANIC
  • 48,601 POSTS
Check the resistance on the pick up coil inside distributor not starter. Also check battery cables for corrosion especially if it is new and there should be a ground wire - Copper braided connected to right hand head and goes to firewall that is removed a lot and never replaced. It can cause transmission cable problems without it.
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Tuesday, November 29th, 2016 AT 12:03 PM
Tiny
ROSS WEILAND
  • MEMBER
  • 6 POSTS
I got 8.71 k on the high end and.6 on the low end. I did notice one of the wires on the back of the distributor look like it had burned though its insulation.
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Tuesday, November 29th, 2016 AT 2:10 PM
Tiny
ROSS WEILAND
  • MEMBER
  • 6 POSTS
Ok I got 810 on the actual pick up coil I'm going to see if I can get a decent picture of the wire the is fried the connect to it or so I believe it's right underneath the rotor so I'm not going to remove that unless I have to
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Wednesday, November 30th, 2016 AT 7:23 PM
Tiny
HMAC300
  • MECHANIC
  • 48,601 POSTS
If the wire is fried fix it. You should have two wires form pickup coil. If one of the wires go to the module then that is probably bad as well. The starter disengagement is either a bad solenoid or it is not set up correctly meaning shims and that is normally to close to flywheel. There should have been instructions with starter when it was replaced. See pic for dist setup
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Thursday, December 1st, 2016 AT 5:28 AM
Tiny
ROSS WEILAND
  • MEMBER
  • 6 POSTS
Yeah that's what I figured on the starter or the bendex either way it's under warranty. For the distributor I was looking at just replacing the entire thing but when I look at what's on the market they do not have this part that comes out of the back which leads to a wiring harness at the fire wall I'm awful with electrical but have been looking at diagrams for 2 days now would you have any idea what the connector could be referred to that connects to the opposite side of the module. I found a replacement connector for the harness but not for the distributor. Thank you for taking the time out to assist me with this I have somewhere to start at least. I truly appreciate it!
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Thursday, December 1st, 2016 AT 9:36 AM
Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 42,940 POSTS
Please let us know happens so it will help others.

Best, Ken
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Thursday, December 1st, 2016 AT 11:50 AM
Tiny
ROSS WEILAND
  • MEMBER
  • 6 POSTS
So what I found out was that the wire that had been fried belong to the ESC(electric spark control) unit which I didn't know I had. So instead of replacing the wire I found after reading for a while that to bypass this system or test you can jump the green to the black which is a ground so I just grounded the green wire to the distributor where the black had been.

http://www.73-87.com/7387garage/drivetrain/escrepl.htm

That is a link that shows two ways to remove and or bypass the ESC. Which solved everything but the starter issue and that will be swapped this weekend. Thank you Hmac300 for your time and saving me some money I didn't need to spend.
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Saturday, December 3rd, 2016 AT 1:32 AM

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