Pinion for west 4-107

[scallywag]

I need to know what pinion gear is used on a 1976 Westerbeke 4-107. I had the starter rebuilt. It is installed but the starter does not turn the engine. It does not even grind. I think the wrong pinion gear was put in the starter. Help

[westwinds]

Originally Posted by scallywag

I need to know what pinion gear is used on a 1976 Westerbeke 4-107. I had the starter rebuilt. It is installed but the starter does not turn the engine. It does not even grind. I think the wrong pinion gear was put in the starter. Help

I have had rebuilders do poor work, not even replace critical items. Now days I just buy new. Does the starter spin up with out engaging the flywheel ring gear? I suspect the yoke that goes around the pinion that connects to the solenoid that pulls the pinion gear onto the flywheel might not be connected. Also, the one way clutch built into the pinion might be defective. If the starter does not spin, then take a look at the wiring from the starter to the ignition switch or starter button. Test this by taking a jumper and going from the wire that goes to the ignition switch or starter button to make contact with the large electrical cable that goes to the battery

[scallywag]

Did wire trick from battery to solenoid. Starter spins. Does not engage the flywheel. I think it is the wrong pinion gear. What gear does it take?

[westwinds]

Originally Posted by scallywag

Did wire trick from battery to solenoid. Starter spins. Does not engage the flywheel. I think it is the wrong pinion gear. What gear does it take?

Since I am not actually there checking things out, it makes trouble shooting a lot more of a guessing exercise. I did pull up a picture of this starter on ebay and noted that the pinion gear is small. This is usually how a starter is designed, to get the most gear reduction possible. It would not be possible to get this pinion gear any smaller so I deduce that this is the correct setup unless you have something out of the ordinary.

Here is an idea. Take the starer off, Take it to a starter testing station (the one at the place the starter was rebuilt?) and hook up battery wire to starter solenoid and jumper across from battery to smaller terminal that goes to starter button or 'ignition' key and see if the gear is forced into position that would normally be in to engage the ring gear on the flywheel. The starter will also spin up so it is best to have the starter properly secured as it can jump pretty bad when engaged. If the pinion gear moves into position, then we know the linkage inside the starter and solenoid is connected correctly.

Another thing that could be going on is a used pinion or maybe a defective one was used. What you have is an electric motor (the starter) that has a clutch in it that transmits torque in one direction but not the other. What this does is prevent the starter from being driven so fast when an engine catches, but the starter button is not released, that the windings in the electric motor are thrown out of place from the very high speed because there is a very large gear on the engine fly wheel and a very small gear on the starter pinion and it can really spin up. The one way clutch allows the starter to turn over the engine, but the engine cannot turn the starter. When a one way clutch fails, what it does is not transmit torque from the starter to the engine. The clutch slips when it should connect the starter motor with the pinion gear. So I am thinking either the linkage from starter solenoid is not connected to the to move the pinion gear connecting with the ring gear, or the one way clutch does not transmit torque to the pinion gear that has properly engaged with the ring gear. I have seen the situation where the wrong pinion gear was on a starter and the clashing of gears is frightful. That happened to be on an aircraft engine. I wasn't on any job that I did and I was thankful for that because it could have been expensive if the ring gear was damaged.

[scallywag]

Thanks for your response. I have taken the starter back to the shop. I have found out that the local marine repair dealers do not use this shop because of shoddy work. Hopefully they will get it right this time. I am thinking of taking the starter to another reputable repair facility be fore I put it back in the engine. I will let you know the result. I can not afford a new engine. I found out I do not know what engine I have. I have 3 different manuals in the owners book.

Dot and John

[scallywag]

New part for pinion gear assemble was miss assembled. Instead of locking in place, the pinion gear was spinning on the flywheel. The flywheel did not turn because there was not enough friction.