97 Cobra...no start

[fullofvenom]

Hi All,

Since its supposed to be a nice sunny day, I thought I'd bring the snake to worktoday. Went out to the garage to warm it up and the damn thing wouldn't start. The first attempt prodused a strange noise (not really a grind, but almost as if the little spinner that pops out of the starter missed the teeth on the fly wheel). After that one, the only thing the starter would do is spin. It doesn't seem to make contact with the flywheel.

Is the starter shot?

Thanks!

 

[97cracker]

That would be my guess without hearing it...

 

[fullofvenom]

I'm leaning that way. The sound is nasty or anything, just sounds like the gear spinning without hitting the flywheel. Doesen't sound like a power or ground issue, as it turns just fine. I'm going to rip it out and see what I can see. Thanks.

 

[tomustang]

have fun with the hidden bolt on the starter

 

[Jowlz]

Give the starter a few taps with a hammer. The bendix drive may be sticking and not throwing the starter gear to engage the flywheel.

 

[fullofvenom]

have fun with the hidden bolt on the starter

haha, yeah, I've read quite a bit about that in my searches. I'm looking forward to it.

Thanks jowlz, I'll see if that will free up the bendix to get it started, but I think I'll replace it anyway. I'd hate to get stuck out and about with it.

 

[STAMPEDE3]

Give the starter a few taps with a hammer. The bendix drive may be sticking and not throwing the starter gear to engage the flywheel.

Always the first thing to try.
If that fails, get bigger hammer. :lol: :lol:

 

[white98snake]

mhm bigger hammer will do the trick

 

[BelvedereGTX]

Maybe it has some broken flywheel teeth. That would suck. That happened on my jetski once.

 

[fullofvenom]

Maybe it has some broken flywheel teeth. That would suck. That happened on my jetski once.

AHHHHHH, NOOO, don't say that, please. :-D Guess it wouldn't be the end of the word since I'm going to change the clutch (and flywheel), but I don't want to have the car sit until I can get that swapped out.

 

[fullofvenom]

well, i don't know what the hell is wrong now. i went home and gave it a try. the starter seems to contact the flywheel now, it just doesn't turn it enough to start the car. I've seen a bunch of posts from Dano about the NEG battery cable, I'm going to test that out tonight. My oil pressure gauge has been pretty flaky lately too, coincidence.....maybe not.

I did put it up in the air to just see how hard it would be to pull the starter and can't believe how difficult it looks. there is NO room in there whatsoever. the haynes manual is pretty blase about it too, only like 5 steps to the removal and installation, and they only show a pic of one bolt on the darn thing.

 

[98svtconvert]

to get the top bolt you are going to want to go in from the front of the motor with a long extention.can be a little dificult by your self but not impossible. gl and have fun.


Justin

 

[GMKILR9050]

I hate to ask, but is your battery fully charged? My car is in storage and it did the same grinding noise last week when i went to start it, threw some jumpers on it and away we we went.

 

[fullofvenom]

finally got the f'ing thing to start. i read a post about the iac sticking shut. said to try starting it while giving it some throttle. so i thought i'd take it off and see what i could. i sprayed it with 2+2, put it back on and the car started right up. son of a bitch. the car had the original battery in it and i don't have a tester, so i went and got a new one, just in case. i hooked the old one back up to be sure and it started after that too. thank goodness for forums cause i'd be pushing that thing around before i would have gotten it started myself.