Title pretty much says it.
Starter was replaced several times with used starters, and finally one brand new one.
The starter motor spins, but it never engages the flywheel. Never even tries to engage the flywheel.
When changing the starter, the ring gear was examined. the teeth looked normal.

The only "telling" thing that I noticed is that, at the CS switch (the only convenient place to measure voltage applied to the solenoid), I'm only seeing 10.45 volts to ground.
Is that low enough to cause what we're seeing? What could be causing that much of a drop in the starting circuit?
The problem also comes and goes.

This is not my car, BTW. On of the guys in our club.

Thanks!

You might have a bad batt to chassis ground

Where is the battery located, stock or up front? What does your block to battery ground look like? That is a huge drop in voltage though, is the battery fully charged when this happens? You could add another ground to the block to see if it helps.

Sounds like he hooked the terminals up wrong to the starter and put the 12V+ that's supposed to energize the solenoid right to the starter's motor terminal. Climb under and double check, dumber stuff has happened.

Good Luck!

Kurt

what engine is this, and where was it installed.

Thanks all!

The battery is in the stock location. Measured 12.4(?) volts at the terminals, with the engine off.
He's checked the grounds, but I'll remind him to check the one at the shock tower.
It is definitely wired correctly. He's very meticulous in his work, so if he missed something I'll be surprised.
BTW... He's already replaced the ignition switch and bypassed the clutch interlock. He's also checked the connections at C500.
It even works normally, occasionally. Just has gotten worse over time.
The engine is a 3.4 that he installed himself.

Did every used starter do the samething? or just the new one?

They all did the same thing.

The starter grounds through the block, right? Is the block painted? Maybe he just needs to take one of the starter bolts out and clean it up for a solid ground. (assuming the other grounds are good, you said he was meticulous)

assuming you are changing solenoid every time too.did you check the ring gear all the way around?

Does the starter have shims? Or have shims been lost at one time or another?
I'm wondering if the starter may be actuating at an angle vs a straight/square-in shot?
Yeh, I know its unlikely, but we are talking about a Fiero.

------------------
Ol' Paint, 88 Base coupe auto.
Turning white on top, like owner.
Leaks a little, like owner.
Doesn't smoke, unlike owner

Like someone mentioned. You are absolutely sure he is puttting the battery cable on the solinoid bolt and not the starter bolt.

If you wire it right the solinoid has to pull in to energize the starter motor contacts. So as long as the bendix fork is connected up the bendix has to be going out if the motor is running.
If that is all true then it would have to be the bendix clutch being bad or the bendix gear not contacting the flywheel.

first of all, try one of the starters out of the car. the solenoid does have a fork that throws the bendix out on initial crank.
if it works out of the car, install it with the shield off so you can watch the ring gear.
my last fiero spun the ring gear on the flywheel, and it sounded like the starter was just spinning away and not engaging.
be sure that the shim is installed, they all use one at least.
seeing this just started with the working starter initially I tend to suspect that there is a shim and it was transferred along.

I went thru 3 starters, and actually had the shop I got them from show me on the last on on a load jig that the gear was engaging their test wheel, so I ended up pulling that shield and watching the flywheel while jumpering the starter right there.
in my case I put 4 1" long welds evenly around the ring to the flywheel to fix it. the laternative is to pull the motor, flywheel and either replace it or have a new one pressed on.
it also did this intermittently prior to failing completely.

never mind........ ;-)

[This message has been edited by typhoon (edited 01-14-2007).]

quote Originally posted by tjm4fun: first of all, try one of the starters out of the car. the solenoid does have a fork that throws the bendix out on initial crank. if it works out of the car, install it with the shield off so you can watch the ring gear. my last fiero spun the ring gear on the flywheel, and it sounded like the starter was just spinning away and not engaging. be sure that the shim is installed, they all use one at least. seeing this just started with the working starter initially I tend to suspect that there is a shim and it was transferred along. I went thru 3 starters, and actually had the shop I got them from show me on the last on on a load jig that the gear was engaging their test wheel, so I ended up pulling that shield and watching the flywheel while jumpering the starter right there. in my case I put 4 1" long welds evenly around the ring to the flywheel to fix it. the laternative is to pull the motor, flywheel and either replace it or have a new one pressed on. it also did this intermittently prior to failing completely.

We have a winnah!
Thanks for the suggestion.
I never would have thought this could happen, as tight as that ring gear normally is.
Three spot welds took care of the problem.

Thanks to everyone else who offered suggestions, too. Always appreciated.