danoreilly
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2010
- Messages
- 138
- Reaction score
- 4
- Location
- Colorado Springs, CO
- My Car
- 71 Mach1 351C 4V
02 Deluxe Convertible
67 Fairlane GT 390
In all my time with cars, I've never seen this happen. Started my 71 Mach (351C) yesterday, and heard a funky clinking noise for a second as it fired. Shut it down after warming it up for a bit, then tried to restart it. Nothing. Start just spun at full speed but didn't engage the flywheel.
So, I pulled the starter off and imagine my surprise when I looked and saw all of the starter drive teeth totally stripped off. I mean, they were ALL gone, and there were shards of teeth inside the bellhousing where the starter goes. I wasn't able to examine the flywheel teeth themselves, but I did remove the inspection plate off the tranny and felt around the teeth, they didn't feel damaged.
So, I guess now I need to get the car hauled to a shop and have the tranny pulled so the remaining shrapnel from the drive can be removed from the bellhousing (and there's a lot of it unaccounted for), and so the flywheel can be examined. I can't believe it would be wise to leave that crap in the bellhousing.
So much for holiday cruising...
So, I pulled the starter off and imagine my surprise when I looked and saw all of the starter drive teeth totally stripped off. I mean, they were ALL gone, and there were shards of teeth inside the bellhousing where the starter goes. I wasn't able to examine the flywheel teeth themselves, but I did remove the inspection plate off the tranny and felt around the teeth, they didn't feel damaged.
So, I guess now I need to get the car hauled to a shop and have the tranny pulled so the remaining shrapnel from the drive can be removed from the bellhousing (and there's a lot of it unaccounted for), and so the flywheel can be examined. I can't believe it would be wise to leave that crap in the bellhousing.
So much for holiday cruising...