49 Super Starter irregular.....

[Guest Moondoggy]

My Super's starter-motor was turning over very sluggishly at the start then after say 5-15 seconds would turn over quickly and fire no problem. Sluggish I mean slowly slowly turning over.

Well I removed the starter-motor, disassembled and gave it a good clean as there was alot of dirt in it ( I mean very dirty including 4 or 5 spots of thrown solder). Well it has improved immensly but sometimes still will be sluggish when starting.

All I can think of now is maybe the armature is not "true" or drive assembly??

Really am guessing any hints or tips from those with greater knowledge then I would be much appreciated.

Thanks Adam

ps. I did a search from previous postings and info only seemed to tinker around the edges.

[Leif Holmberg]

Did you disassambled the "switch- solonoid" as well as the starter,if not do this too.But be careful with the "plastik - bakelit" on the solonoid.

Leif in Sweden.

[Guest Moondoggy]

Hi Leif, yes I dismantelled the solenoid too, it was in rather poor condition I cleaned and set the points and the pinion clearance correctly, after thinking about it over night I will replace the solenoid first and take it from there.

Thanks Adam

[Pete Phillips]

Are your battery cables the big, thick kind for 6-volt systems? They should be about as fat as your middle finger, in order to carry the amperage that a 6-volt system requires. I had a '52 Pontiac once and it cranked sluggishly as you describe. Finally, someone pointed out that it had thin, 12-volt-style battery cables. When I changed them to the proper thickness 6-volt cables, the difference was like night and day.

Another thing you might do is take the armature out of the starter and take it to a rebuild shop that has a "growler". This is a tester that makes a growling noise if it finds voltage "leakage" between the various windings of the armature. It finds broken wires or wires that have come loose and slipped into an adjacent winding, which weakens everything. If the shop doesn't know what a "growler" is, find another starter repair shop!

Pete Phillips, BCA #7338

Sherman, Texas

1948 Roadmaster

1949 Super

1950 Roadmaster

1959 Electra

1962 Electra 225

1963 Wildcat

[Guest Moondoggy]

Hi Pete, thanks for the pointers, the cable does appear to be suspect, I am in the throws of ordering some parts off Bob's so I will get some new battery cables too, it kinda makes sense, fingers crossed once I have attended to all these things she will be on track.

Cheers and thanks

Adam

[Guest Moondoggy]

Just a note of interest after going through all the checks and balances trying to fix this problem, new cables, bushes, cleaned starter throughout, armature on growler, new battery....etc etc.

I have discovered that while this may have not been the sole reason it certainly contributed heavily to starter slugglishness.....the bolt which screws into the side of the starter motor earthing to the chassis, well it was to long hence stopping the pinion from engaging correctly into the ring gear on the fly wheel at a gap of 3/16th of inch fully engaged as per manual but once I screwed the earth strap bolt in it would leave a gap about 5/8th of an inch.

Hey I am only a mechanical novice but I suspect it would have taken even an experienced mechanic to find this fault many hours!

Oh well it's on the record now hope it may help someone else one day.

Adam