S2 possible starter motor issue?

[OriginalFire]

I'm having an issue with my 66 S2. I had the car going for a couple drives, but now when I try and start the car. The engine doesn't even turn over. There's a weird grinding like sound coming from I think the starter motor. See video attached.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zeavz0 ... p=drivesdk

Do you think I need a new starter motor or is it an issue with something else?



Thanks,
Jon

[StressCraxx]

Hard to tell, but your starter motor bolts may be loose, or your battery is too weak to engage the solenoid.

[OriginalFire]

Hard to tell, but your starter motor bolts may be loose, or your battery is too weak to engage the solenoid.

I'll check the bolts sometime.
For sure my battery was full charged at that time.

[rgh0]

what type of starter do you have ? Original Lucas inertia engage starter or a pre-engage replacement

cheers
Rohan

[Frogelan]

Following Rohan's comment, it may be the case that the starter motor is not engaging the flywheel properly.

Is this a new starter motor ?

This can happen for a number of reasons and recently when I bought one of these, the supplier, Jon Savage (cambridgemotorsportparts) even asked me for the distance from the engine back plate. He then proceded to have the starter motor adjusted for the dimension.

[benymazz]

If it's the Lucas starter, there's a joke to be made here about this being normal operation for Lucas electronic components.

Jokes aside, I'll throw two guesses in here: Either the pinion gear on the starter is completely wasted and shed all of its teeth, or there's an electrical fault in the armature.

I don't like either of my guesses though, because in the event of the first I would expect to see the engine turn over at least a fraction of a degree, but I'm not seeing the fan moving at all. I don't like the second guess because if there was a fault, I would expect some smoke or at least a funny smell, which you didn't mention.

Good luck,
Ben

[Bigbaldybloke]

My vote goes for a loose starter motor or worst case a partially stripped ring gear on the flywheel.

[325racer]

Sounds like the teeth on both ring and starter motor are chewed up. Try turning motor by hand a a little. This will line up other teeth on the flywheel and try again. Not a horrible fix, just throw in a new modern starter, they engage the opposite sure of the ring gear, so you don't have to pull engine and replace gears.

[Bigbaldybloke]

The flywheel ring gear has a small chamfer on one side of each tooth to help the gears engage. If fitting a starter motor that engages from the other side you won?t have this chamfer to aid smooth engagement. I?ve not tried it to see if it causes a problem, others may have done. If it?s not a loose motor it?s likely the ring gear is damaged near where the load is greatest as the pistons approach TDC and replacing the starter won?t cure the problem. I replaced mine some years ago, it?s possible at home but probably better done by an engineering shop.

[rgh0]

it would be useful if Jon / OriginalFire responded to the question of what type of starter he had fitted. Until that is answered all the rest if interesting but arbitrary speculation.

cheers
Rohan
" In God I trust .... all others please bring data"