Thunk! and will not spin over till I try it 2-3 times

[WarWagon]

Put in a local rebuilt starter 30 days ago. All of a sudden I get a Thunk! and nothing. Try it a couple times and the engine starts to spin over without the thunk. Like the starter drive kicks in but no motor turning. Was really bad after lift pump replacement yesterday and the IP airlocked. Had to let it cool longer than usual between attempts to spin the engine as it would thunk and nothing.

Anything other than the starter assy causing this? (New batts.)

 

[bfourman]

Probably the starter. The thunk would be the solenoid pushing the drive out, but no spin. If it went REEEEEEEEEE without turning over I would say solenoid bad or sticking.

 

[bison]

Only thunk i can think of beside the starter giving grief is "hydra lock" The thunk actually sounds more like "CRACK".
Scary sound in any case:agreed:

 

[WarWagon]

Not spinning: Voltage to solenoid pull in 9.5v. Voltage to motor: 0.3v, Voltage to solenoid from battery 12.2v at solenoid. Spinning has 10v+ to starter motor. It starts too fast to get a good reading of the spinning voltage.

Solenoid contacts are bad.

I can spin the engine 3 of 4 times and it reliably fails when I bump the engine over.

 

[great white]

Sounds like a trip back to your rebuilder is in order....

 

[WarWagon]

Here we go again.
Different vehicle and supposedly different starter from the re-builder. I put the good Powermaster starter in the burb and no issues since. The starter above went back and they gave me a different one they say. Worked for awhile and now I get the random clunk and no spin. This time it is on the 1993. I'll let them take it off this time...

 

[jmack91z28]

Who are you using for your rebuilder?

 

[JiFaire]

Hmmm .. methinks we see a pattern, here ...

 

[WarWagon]

Anything in assembly of a 6.5 starter that would cause it to pull in all the way and not spin the motor from not making the solenoid contact?

I get a 'thud' as the starter pulls the drive in and a heart stopping silence after that. Drop in and out of start a couple times on the switch and then it will spin. Problem is getting worse - happening more often this past week. Starter is two weeks from the shop.

So bad contacts in the solenoid or it isn’t pulling in all the way. Have 9.5v at pull in lug of solenoid from ign switch. I get 0.3 volts on the motor side of the solenoid when it isn’t spinning and 12v to the battery side of the solenoid.

Powermaster now in the suburban from pickup and worked perfectly in both.

Anyway just curious as the second starter doing the same thing from Genco auto electric in Mesa, AZ. It going back for a refund and I am paying $80.00 more for a Orileys rebuilt Autolite starter. I HATE changing starters out! Almost rather pull the engine... If I had the funds I would have bought a Powermaster for $300.00 - but the $110 cost of this one was in budget.

 

[bison]

Phone a real rebuilder and ask what they charge,i bet it is 300 bux or better.
I would stay away from the cheapy ones,...can't be nothing but junk

 

[Ratman]

Definitely the contacts in the solenoid. The solenoid still pulls the drive out, but the contact disk, -or contact studs are not making contact (giving you that solid THUD of the drive kicking out, but no power to the starter motor). The studs that go into the solenoid cap are the contact points that the disk completes the circuit to the starter motor through, -and sometimes they "go away" also. The copper studs used to be available with nickel plated contacts, but my local rebuilder told me that he hasn't seen them available in a while. Do yourself a favor and just swap out the solenoid, -do not get the POS $35.00 solenoid that some sell, -the good one runs $60.00. I had a bad experience with a cheap solenoid, -I sure won't make that mistake again. Not to base things off price, (because I'm sure some a-hole is buying the POS one and charging $60 for it), but I went through TWO cheap ones before I settled on the more expensive one that my rebuilder recommended.

Also, -always keep the original nose housing on your starter if it is the original that came with your block, -you'll never need shims, -and you will have perfect gear mesh every time, (don't ask how I know that). I typically swap the guts over from the rebuilt unit, but I will not use the nose housing that came with the rebuild, because they hardly ever match up to the block.