While cranking the engine, I had a back fire and after, while cranking again, it made a strange noise. I took plugs out and managed to rotate the engine with hands normally. PFFFF the engine sounds OK. Then I took the starter out and the aluminium end that holds the end gear was broken ! Thanks god, I could capture the broken piece with my fingers inside. Now is the dilemma: If plenty of suppliers offer rebuilt kit, I could not find a new complete starter (I would even change the solenoid to get a brand new package). Who has an address for that ? What is the best starter to fit in ? Do the mini starters from Japan that are advertsed on ebay really fit in lieu of the big ones, and work well ? Thanks
NAPA, AUtoZone and many others sell the same starter as the original. The backfire that broke the nose of your starter is often cause by the timing being set too far advanced. If I were you I would pull the inspection cover and see if any teeth on the flex plate were damaged. If they are the bendix on the next starter will not last.
I have a new starter off of my 455. I only used it for a month and then went with a trick mini-starter just because I had to. I don't know what shipping would be to France, but I could look into it if you'd like. I'd sell it to you at a very good price. Phil
Phil, That is a good idea. :TU: Please check the shipping costs to Paris. USPS works quite well. Should we finalise the deal, I am Paypal registred. Just a few question: are the starters all the same on 455 's ? What advanteges do you have with the mini starter ? I am tempted by these too. What do you mean by "I had to (go for a mini trick starter)" ?
Jim, In fact, shame on me, this happened after I inverted two ignition wires. :spank: By the way, I put them back according to the manual (waiting for a new starter to test !!!), ie couterclock wise, 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2, with the 1 plugged just at the left of the side window of the distributor, but I am almost sure that was not plugged that way before I changed all my wires (ie #1 was not at the right place but may be others were following in the right order. The engine seemed to work normally, before. Is there a possibility that some one has "invented" a new ignition order and tuned the ignition advance accordingly, in such a way that it does not work once plugged the right way ? Stupidely,I did not note the previous order. :spank: again. I am afraid I need to dive into the manual and learn how to tune that engine. That is my first V8...two many spaghettis....
There is a real simple way to check if you are on #1 plug. Rotate the engine around until the timing mark on the balancer lines up about 5 degrees (BTDC) on the timing chain cover and take your cap off. The rotor button should be lined up with your #1 plug wire or the #6. If it lines up with #6 rotate it one more rev until it lines up with #1. If you find that it does not line up with either then you may find that you are 1 off on the rotation. Double and even triple check that you have them wired in the correct firing order. It is easy to get two of them reversed especially on the passenger side. I learned this lesson the hard way! There are two chances that someone has changed the firing order, slim and none. Doing that would require new everything from the crankshaft to the cam. What could have happened though would have been for a previous owner to change where #1 wire goes into the cap by putting the distributor in differently than with #1 being the first one to the right of the window on a points type or I think the #1 is the one directly over the window on a HEI distributor. In either case you can easily retime the distributor to the proper camshaft position by taking out #1 plug and putting your finger over the hole and having someone rotate the engine slowly until the compression forces your finger off of the hole. The balancer mark should line up close to 5 or 10 degrees before top dead center. That is where #1 should fire. Check to see if that is where the #1 lines up on your distributor cap. I would recommend that you remove the coil wire before doing that since you don't want the engine to accidentally crank while you put it in position. You can also rotate the engine with a pull bar and a 1 1/8 inch socket on the balancer bolt. It is easier to control than with the starter. Since your starter isn't working it is probably the way to verify that everything else is right before looking elsewhere. Make sure that you pull the inspection cover off and check the teeth on the flexplate as suggested by Flynbuick. Good luck. I hope this helps in some way.
:TU: MLH 48, in no way you rambled on. You gave the answer !!! The so colled mecanician who gave me a drawing of the cylinders # display placed the fan at the wrong side. :rant: with your note and a double check on the web I understood I was all the way wrong. Now I plugged it OK, but I will double check with the steps you describe, and learn a bit more, as I have some more time before I get a new starter and can crank the engine to test... Still need to play the dentist and check if all the dents are there... I'll keep all you guys who helped solving this problem informed of the suceess. Thanks again.
