Hi All,

My car has been dormant for about 5 months whilst various work has been done. This included a full block flush and replacement of the core plugs (which of course means removing the starter motor, which is the original 1960 unit).

Finally got everything back together and tried to start the car today.

The solenoid bites and the starter makes a 'grating' noise.

The battery reads 11.65v across the terminals.

My suspision is that during the lay up period the battery lost some juice, and now has enough to spin the motor but not engage it, but 11.65v doesn't seem too bad? I'm giving it a charge to see if that helps.

Anybody else got any ideas? I'm curious to know if there is more to this than meets the eye.

All the best,
60 Ply

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1960 Plymouth Belvedere 4 door sedan
Stock 60 225
Push button 3 speed Torqueflite
Right Hooker

Yeah, 11.5 volts is a bit low, what that doesn’t tell you is how many cranking amps are left in that battery. Batteries don’t like to be sitting for long periods of time without any charge being applied, and will loose their charge rather quickly.

Try to give the battery a long slow charge over night disconnected from the car’s harness, it should recover. IF not, there are special trickle / desulfuring chargers that can be had that may or may not restore full power.


Once charged, make sure all grounds, battery terminals and connections to starter are clean and well fasten. Any poor connections will cause additional voltage drops between battery and starter.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Thanks for the reply wjajr,

The charger I am using is a desulphuring type (CTEK XS800 - free with a magazine subscription!).

I guess the only thing I thought was a bit strange about it being the battery was the way the starter spun but didn't engage - if it was the battery I'd expect it to engage but not spin - which made me suspect the starter.

Still, charging the battery doesn't hurt anything.

_________________
1960 Plymouth Belvedere 4 door sedan
Stock 60 225
Push button 3 speed Torqueflite
Right Hooker

The '60 starter isn't a solenoid-engaged one. The "solenoid" is in fact just a heavy-duty relay that sends power to the motor when you turn the key. The starter drive pinion is engaged to the ring gear by inertia: it rides loosely on a spiral shaft and has a great enough mass that when the starter motor begins turning the drive unit remains at rest (by inertia) thus rising up the spiral helix into engagement with the flywheel, whereupon it is locked to the starter motor shaft by a latch mechanism and drive is transmitted from the motor to the flywheel via the drive. When the engine starts, it overdrives the starter, a pair of centrifugal weights flies outward to unlock the starter drive from the shaft, the driver releases the key, the starter motor slows and stops, and the starter drive rides back down the helix to the disengaged position.

If you're just getting a motor-grind out of this starter, it's not spinning fast enough to throw the drive into engagement with the flywheel. Either your battery's flat or the cables have internal corrosion or other faults resisting current flow (or if none of the above, the starter motor's due for rebuild)

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

A new fully charged battery will read very close to 13 volts,in the 12.7-12.9 range.less than 12.2 without load,it's dead

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V8?? We don't need no stink'n V8!!

Thanks for the replies guys,

Dan - yep, I realised that when I got back home to the FSM - it shows quite clearly the Bendix drive. Yet more proof that there's no replacement for the FSM! Out of interest I did a little further digging, and I've found a few sources for the starter drive (NOS or "new", I believe SDN-60 is the part number?). Nice to know that the problem is likely pointing to a battery and its wiring rather than the starter though (or at least for now).


Bigslan6fan - Thanks for the info on the battery voltage. That 1-1.5v drop should explain a lot. I have the battery on one of those cyclic desulphuring (that a word?) chargers. That will hopfully stick enough charge in the battery for me to start the car and test the new cooling system. If the battery turns out to be toast I may have access to a good one - will do until funds permit the aquisition of a new unit.

Thanks again guys,
60 Ply

_________________
1960 Plymouth Belvedere 4 door sedan
Stock 60 225
Push button 3 speed Torqueflite
Right Hooker

A second thought:
Where you are using a desulphuring charger, it is going to take time to revive your battery to full charge, perhaps days. Also be advised that trying to operate the starter with a weak battery may cook the windings.

Even though the starter won’t turn the engine, there is enough juice in the battery to heat up the windings of your starter while it is not turning, or turning very slowly. Heat is something a 50 year old electrical device doesn’t take to very well.

_________________
67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC