Starter Will Not Disengage on 68 Charger

[Chargermoneypit]

Well it is finally time to hook up the battery on the 68 Charger. I hooked up the battery and gave it a quick turn over to see what would happen and it cranked for just a second or two. I am not prepared to start it up all together as I have to finish with the spark plug wires and priming the engine after sitting for years. I gave it one more crank and the starter went crazy and would not disengage. I quick pulled off the negative cable and it stopped. When I touch the negative cable to the post it sparks and engages the starter again. Every single thing is new including wiring, relay, starter and such. What am I missing? I hooked up the negative ground cable to the air conditioning compressor which had some paint on the cable but I believe I have a good ground. Please help. Thanks.

 

[Cranky]

Had one do that....the connection at the starter shorted out and made contact.

 

[jerry]

Yeah, the trigger wire and the power lead are too close.
Do you have the small plastic shield on the terminal?

 

[Chargermoneypit]

No shield

I do not have the shield on the starter wires. I just touched the negative cable to the battery and all the starter does now is spin and not turn the motor. Can I use some tape as a temporary bandaid until I get the shield or did I just cook the starter?

 

[70rr-brian]

I do not have the shield on the starter wires. I just touched the negative cable to the battery and all the starter does now is spin and not turn the motor. Can I use some tape as a temporary bandaid until I get the shield or did I just cook the starter?

Possible starter drive in the starter is defective/solenoid...teeth on the flywheel are broken off or low voltage coming from the battery would be my guess.

Just because its new doesn't mean its any good. Could try smacking it with a wrench and see if it engages.

Check battery voltage and see where it is.

You could rotate motor by hand a bit and try again to see if it grabs....if it does....flywheel teeth.


Tape should do the trick.

 

[Ron 73]

Try loosing the starter bolts a tad and see if it disengages if this happens again.. Brians right with the new starters sometimes being bad, i bought one last summer and put it in and it wouldnt engage at all, took it back and it tested bad, gave me a new one and bing ah bang, back in business...

 

[Chargermoneypit]

Starter problems

Thanks for the advice and information. I will have to loosen it up on Tuesday and see if that does the trick. The first couple of cranks were normal then like I said, it went crazy. The battery is brand new, the relay is new, the battery cables are new. Damn everything on this thing is new. I had the starter rebuilt by a company in town who are the go to people for top quality rebuilding so I will give him a call too. I have had a bad starter once in my many years with Mopars so I guess that might be true too. I am going to hate trying to pull that thing out if that is the end result. How often is it neccessary to shim these things?

I have the engine primed so I just need to get a few things tightened up and hopefully will have it running by next Sunday for the first time in years.

 

[67 coronet]

look at the wires at the starter,if they are not touching or really close,remove the small wire and try touching your cable again.if the car turns over with the small activation wire disconnected,then the starter is shorted inside.if that works out ok then you may have a shorted solenoid on the fire wall or an ignition switch issue.

 

[Chargermoneypit]

Starter Gremlin

Thanks,
I pulled the starter this morning. Giant pain in the ???. I am going to the parts store to have them check it out and try and reinstall it and give it a go. Thanks for the tip on the small trigger wire being removed as to where to go next. I am sure with this car being completely apart there will be many more gremlins surfacing. As mentioned, everything, but the ingnition switch on the dash is new. I will report back later today.

 

[Bruzilla]

While the starter is out, take a peak inside the mounting area and make sure the flywheel teeth are still there. If the starter broke the teeth off, there's no point wasting time with a new starter until you replace the flywheel. And yes... this is a voice of experience talking.

 

[Chargermoneypit]

Resolved

Well my starter woes seem to be over. I pulled the thing out and went and had it tested. I wired the the battery terminal to the starter with the heavy rubber piece more towards the trigger wire until the shield arrives. Bing, bang, boom she works. I will be posting the day story of the first start up on the beast after years in my other thread. A pain in the butt but a great day in the end. She runs!!! But lots of other new gremlins so I'll be asking more questions as I bump into them. Thanks to all. It is great to know people will jump in and help out on this site.