The starter on my Dakota is occasionally failing to fully engage. I will turn the key and it will make a grinding sound. I am thinking of replacing it on the truck then performing the needed repair so that I can use it on the Valiant. What is likely to be the problem and can it be easily repaired?

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David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

I think it's the same starter as the imports.

Check this out:

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/Starter.shtml


For my toyota, it was the contacts in the solenoid. The rest of the starter was fully ball-bearinged, so I it was in great shape (even the brushes had plenty of life left)

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

what kind of a grinding noise, like when you hit the key with the engine already running or hit a bad spot on the ring gear? or is it another kind of grinding noise.
if your starter pinion is grinding the ring gear it may have damaged it; bar the engine over while closely inspecting the ring gear teeth through the starter hole. if the ring gear is damaged then the engine and transmission will have to be separated to replace it; if not done it will only continue to eat starters and leave you stranded someday.
if the grinding is coming from the starter itself you may have grenaded the reduction gears or even fractured the nosecone, neither fix will be cheap or easy. you might not even get core credit with a busted nosecone.
i have found that with repairing starters unless it is a simple brush job or copper disc replacement i cannot repair a starter for much less than a rebuilder can when buying components at list price.

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

Replace the solenoid contacts. The contacts can be had at any auto electrical house. You need to know if yours has the early (long) or late (short) motor frame. See also here.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Thanks for the info, Dan; just what I needed. I'll probably pull it out this weekend.

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David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

Well, I went to the salvage yard and picked up a "recycled" starter today. I crawled under the truck to remove the old one to discover that the bolts were way loose. I decided I would go ahead and switch it out but when I got the old one out I discover that the terminals were different.

The Dakota has stud terminals for both wires while the replacement starter has a stud for the battery feed but a plug in connector for the solenoid wire. I then examined the old starter and found that a couple of the teeth had some minor chips but otherwise looked fine so I put it back in, snugged everything up and when I tested it it started without incident.

So, I guess I'll keep the spare for the valiant if I can get the terminal situation resolved. I believe Dan posted some information about alternative connectors at one time so I'm going to dig that up and see if it will help. If not I'll simply return it and get what I need at a later date when I'm ready for it.

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David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

david, the terminal difference will be no problem. i would either fab up a short jumper, or preferably cut the ring terminal off and replace it with a spade terminal. if you go back to a stud-type solenoid, you can fasten an adaptor spade to it.

what worries me is the starter teeth... if they are chipped then the ring gear is almost certainly damaged. best to see how bad it is and plan on replacing it in the future. i wonder why the starter bolts backed off. is the pinion housing cracked?

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

I didn't see any damage to either the housing or the bell housing of the transmission so I don't know why the bolts were loose, but they were. More than likely it's just the 10 years and 160,000 miles of vibration and heating and cooling cycles.

Replacement of the ring gear means R&R and most likely replacement of the torque converter; that ain't happening anytime soon.

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David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

well keep your cellphone charged and your fingers crossed... without even a look at the teeth who knows how long it will last. im not sure id do a ring gear on a truck that old, either... but it would be nice to know how much time ive got left.

im just sayin.

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

If it were a 2WD truck with a manual tranny I might be more inclined to have a look but an auto tranny in a 4X4 is just more work than I want to get into unless it becomes absolutely necessary.

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David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

in my view thats even more motivation to look at the ring gear and see how much time youve got left because with a manual tranny you can at least push-start it.

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.