Ok Luckily the engine is not locked up. I finally got a usedstarter for it, and fired it up last night. I got it to fire up and ran it for quite a while. The thing is I think the starter is constantly getting power (in other words it is always on) and might be what killed the other starter. I noticed that after the motor had run a while after I turned it off I heard the starter sort of "unwind" as if it had been running the whole time and as soon as I turned the juice off and the engine quit turning then the starter started to wind down. I'm thinking that as the engine fires the starter gear gets kicked away as it should but is still spinning. I heard a high pitched whine like I had an elcetric fan, except I don't have an electric fan.

When you guys shut off your y-blocks do you hear the starter unwind? (kind of like a spinning top slowing to a stop)?

Any advice? I might need to draw a diagram of how I have it wired up and figure out a way to get that out to the masses. Anybody want to volunteer to coach me through this I could e-mail you a diagram. you could e-mail me at tomz@accesstca.com

Thanks in advance.

 

howdy,

It's possible that you have the wrong starter for "Bendix" drive. You may also have a defective drive. If you have the short shaft starter and the bendix drive for the long shaft it may STAY ENGAGED!

Either way, if it stays engaged it will self destruct in SHORT order!

The differences in shaft length are only about 5/8th of an inch but it's enough to have it engaged if you have the wrong set up.

 

Do you have a test light? If so do you have power on the wire going from the solenoid to the starter when the engine is running? If so unplug the 2 smaller wires on the solenoid does the problem go away?

 

57_ford,

That is a good idea I'll have to test that one. Where in MD are you? I'm in Bel Air.

 

I am in Mt.Airy. It's between Frederick and Baltimore.