Exploding starters

[ccpanel]

back story
jeep 258 ran till blown.
threw in 4.0/4.6 stroker
starter bolts directly to 727 bellhousing so motor shouldnt matter at all.
4.0 block is same as 258 in all ways except fuel pump boss is blocked.
i used all the 258 to 727 parts-splash guards, block plate.. everything.
the flexplate is a 258/727 one since the crank is a 258 crank.

I am on my 4th starter.
they work for a random amount of time(this one was 3 weeks) before they start makeing the most insanely horrible noise.

any ideas?

starters are brand new lifetime warranty at oreillys. thank goodness.

i theorize that its my 10:1 compression ratio bending the starter in half and really putting too much stress on it.

all starters come out with bearings trashed, some have had the nose broke off, in all cases-it looks like starter is just bending in half and broken.

[Alexia]

The 16 year old factory MOPAR starter in my 10:1 SCR stroker is doing just fine. It does struggle slightly if it hits a compression stroke on the first revolution.

So uh... do you have some pictures of the broken starters? That is sounding quite spectacular.

[SilverXJ]

Its not your compression. 10:1 isn't that much for a starter. Although one thing I have heard that can break a starter is too much base timing.

Are you sure the 727 isn't suppose to have some sort of shim?

[ccpanel]

Its not your compression. 10:1 isn't that much for a starter. Although one thing I have heard that can break a starter is too much base timing.

Are you sure the 727 isn't suppose to have some sort of shim?

all shims, adapters and plates that were originally connected between teh 4.2/727 are all clean and back in place between teh 4.0/727

I figured since crank, starter and flexplate all are 258-then i need to make the tranny parts think that the block still is.. =)

I wish I had taken pics-In each case-I didnt have camera and was stranded-first time visiting buddy at muffler shop-took off and straight to parts house, second time, no camera, 3 weeks ago-i was in front of strangers house, no camera, late at night and swap out-run to Kragen-swap in.

the first one came out in HUGE chunks-nose busted off and everything.
second one had chunks
sidewalk one -the shaft had busted teh nose so that the gear fell down away from flexplate which made for crappy engagement. and sounded like the rear bearing was toast too.

all leads to the idea that maybe its a compression thing-either static or ignition or... ???

tried to drive it to work today to check out at lunch but I think i woke neighbors up and then it locked and I had to drive the honda.


base timing-remind me. its been a couple years since I put this together. I know when I put cam in I either did retarded 4' or straight up.(have to look at my build sheet)

[SilverXJ]

Not cam timing, but ignition timing.

[ccpanel]

Got some results tonight

http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthread.php?t=167865

i dont know what to say except maybe kragen made 4 bad starters in a row OR my plate slipped(impossible as its held in place by all the eng-trans bolts which are still tight)

[dwg86]

Got some results tonight

http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthread.php?t=167865

i dont know what to say except maybe kragen made 4 bad starters in a row OR my plate slipped(impossible as its held in place by all the eng-trans bolts which are still tight)

Are the dowel pins in the engine to trans mating surface?

[ccpanel]

Got some results tonight

http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthread.php?t=167865

i dont know what to say except maybe kragen made 4 bad starters in a row OR my plate slipped(impossible as its held in place by all the eng-trans bolts which are still tight)

Are the dowel pins in the engine to trans mating surface?

yes-there are 2 dowels.

also-NAPA starter fixed it with zero other changes on my part.

POS oreilly starter was a fail the first second it got installed.

POS!!!!

[SilverXJ]

Chinese crap. Even Napa is selling their fair share of it.

[IH 392]

YEP! we sell TONS! of NAPA CRAP! at work, I wouldn't use one of there starters if you gave it to me!

[ccpanel]

YEP! we sell TONS! of NAPA CRAP! at work, I wouldn't use one of there starters if you gave it to me!

working so far

got any ideas other than a gear drive version?

got a vendor or part number?
same starter fits tons of jeeps V8 or I6 and lots of fords.

[IH 392]

There's a local rebuilder that we take the old one to, drop it on the counter and say fix it, in fact we took one JUNK NAPA starters that they wouldn't warrentee over there and had it fixed.

[ccpanel]

There's a local rebuilder that we take the old one to, drop it on the counter and say fix it, in fact we took one JUNK NAPA starters that they wouldn't warrentee over there and had it fixed.

we got rebuilder like that that took my obscure eveinrude I/O 2 stroke starter to and who did an amazing job.

however-I no longer have the OEM jeep starter that was probably rebuildable.

I do NOT trust anything I have now to be fine.

alignment was off by a mile on several(I know now) of the FLAPS ones and the case even looks different(smaller and shaped diff) between FLAPS and Napa-which IS working perfect now...
for how long?

[amcinstaller]

are you using a 258 starter with the 258 flywheel or a 4.0 starter with the 258 flywheel? I didn't see it anywhere in the post, unless I missed it somewhere

[ccpanel]

are you using a 258 starter with the 258 flywheel or a 4.0 starter with the 258 flywheel? I didn't see it anywhere in the post, unless I missed it somewhere

I mentioned it but I might not have ben clear.

258 crank
258 flexplate
258 cover plates between block and 727 trans
258 starter

so far... the NAPA starter has been doing the job.

crossed fingers....

I might return the AMazon gear drive high torque starter