Starter Won't Engage

[Tillertender]

The gear ring on the flywheel of my A4 is positioned too far away from the starter gear to engage. I had a recent overhaul and it worked ok for a while but was probably only meshing with the very edge of the gears. Question is if I can have a machine shop change the position of the gear ring or can I just turn the flywheel around which would make the gear ring on the inside edge of the flywheel? Are there any considerations with pulling the flywheel off?

[edwardc]

I believe the flywheel mounting holes are not symmetrical, and suspect it only goes on one way.

Others on this forum have talked about repositioning or removing the gear ring by applying heat and force. Not something I would consider without a backup plan.

But I doubt the flywheel is your problem. More likely is that the solenoid mechanism is not fully extending the pinion gear, or it's the wrong one.

[Mo]

I'm thinking you should give Ken a call at MMI. Perhaps he can give you some insight into what's going on there. Wondering if the starter bendix is engaging fully.

[67c&ccorv]

What year is the engine?

[Tillertender]

Problem solved

I talked to Ken. A wealth of knowledge there. After a through history and physical he suggested moving the ring gear to the motor side of the flywheel. He expained how to do it and it worked. Thanks for all your input.

[TomG]

Ken is the man.

[sastanley]

Ken is the man.

+1 & he's so polite!

P.S.> Tiller..welcome to the MMI forum!

[Mark Millbauer]

I'm glad you and Ken solved the problem but I can't help wonder why you had it in the first place. Had you changed the starter or flywheel?

Mark

[marthur]

So how did you move the ring gear to the starter side?

[ILikeRust]

Isn't it the case that the ring gear on the flywheel is a kind of a press fit? So it's possible to carefully slide it forward or backward a bit?

And Ed, yes, you're right - the mounting holes on the flywheel are not symmetrical - they're not like the studs on a car wheel - the flywheel goes on only one way. And sometimes it takes several minutes and several tries to find it and get all the studs lined up!

[ILikeRust]

This photo shows how a ring gear is separate from a flywheel (obviously this is not an Atomic 4 flywheel, but the principle is the same):



Because it's pressed onto the rim of the flywheel, it's possible to adjust the ring gear's position slightly forward or rearward. I've never done it myself, but I know it's possible.

[Tillertender]

The problem with the starter occured a few weeks after a major overhaul which included starter motor and solinoid. When the problem surfaced the first contact was with a starter alternator shop who replaced the drive on the solinoid. That didn't make one dip of difference. So...it must be the wrong starter all together. A call to Ken to check on the availability of a rebuilt starter brought a lot of questions from Ken. When I told him which side of the flywheel the ring was on he said that was the problem and no need to order a starter.

The procedure he outlined and I followed was to use a punch to "ping" the back edge of the flywheel all the way around to give the ring something to grip on. After that I laid the flywheel face up on the wooden dock and used the end of the wooden handle of my ballpeen hammer set aginst the ring. I then struck the top of the handle with my 2 pound sledge, moving around the ring a number of times. I would guess it took maybe 15 minutes to move the ring to the back edge of the flywheel. No heat, no cold, just firm taps. And yes, you can only install the flywheel one way because of the offset stud. It is a very easy fix and while it seemed unlikely to me, the ring can move over aperiod of time.

[Nahart]

Yet another reason to be able to hand start the A4.