1925 dodge touring four-cylinder starter issues

[AB-Buff]

Hi

A friend of mine has a 1925 Dodge touring four-cylinder. He’s having some starter issues. Apparently he had sent the starter to someone on the northern west coast and they change the brushes. The starter turns over fine by itself if you take the spark plugs out of the engine it will turn the engine over, but as soon as you put the spark plugs back in, it doesn’t have enough to turn the engine over, just a click. And that is connecting it directly from a battery to the starter bypassing all of the other cables in the car. do any of you know of a knowledgeable good source that can rebuild that starter? Or any suggestions on what that might be. It does have a good ground and like I say, going directly to a battery to the starter will not turn the engine over with the spark plugs. It will with the plugs out. 

Lynn

PS

The car is located in Central California South of Stockton, Tracy. It would be nice to find somebody semi-local.

Edited December 7, 2023 by AB-Buff (see edit history)

[22touring]

When my starter-generator conked out years ago, I inquired around in order to find a local shop with a good reputation that rebuilt starters, generators and alternators, and took it there.  They were able to work on it with no problems because it is pretty conventional, third-brush regulation stuff.  That shop did fix it well, because it has worked for about 30 years now.  But if you have a blown armature or field winding, you are probably going to have to find a replacement winding (I have never heard of anybody who re-winds them, but maybe there is somebody, somewhere).  You will want to avoid shipping a complete starter-generator because they are so heavy that it is virtually cost-prohibitive.

[Mark Gregush]

Are you talking about the starter/generator or does it have a later engine installed that uses the sperate starter? The 1925 would have the starter/generator as a single unit. AKA Silent starter. 

If the starter/generator; you are using 12 volt positive ground hook up?

Have you had your battery tested or checked? Even new batteries can be bad. 

 

Edited December 8, 2023 by Mark Gregush (see edit history)

[AB-Buff]

Starter Generator, tested it with a brand new battery and went straight from the battery to the starter generator. I think I am going to recommend them sending it to Myers back in Michigan.

[22touring]

That sounds ideal. I'm sure that Myers or Romar would do a really good job (probably other DB vendors would, too, but I am forgetting their names at the moment). You might want to check the cost of taking it apart and sending the pieces separately vs. sending the assembled starter/generator in a single box.

[Mark Gregush]

What condition is the engine itself in? I remember someone asking about the same issue, come to find out the engine had been rebuilt and was setup too tight, so starter was stalling out under the same conditions. 

[AB-Buff]

It’s an older restoration probably 30-40 years ago maybe more. he has a decent car collection and this one’s probably been sitting for a while. I think they are just going to exchange the starter with Myers. 

[nearchoclatetown]

I've been told the starter should freewheel at 350 rpms minimum without the chain attached.

[Pete K.]

Can you check to see if the new brushes have been "run-in"? meaning are they contacting the segments on the commutator at 100%.

[AB-Buff]

I’ll ask, I’m not sure if the starter is still in the car. It’s basically at a automotive repair shop downtown that he uses. I just checked in on it when they were having issues. So I will ask if it’s still there and see.