Who sells good starters?

mnm99

mnm99

Well-Known Member
Oct 2, 2015
2,447
Long Island
Boat Info
2004 340 SeaRay Sundancer
Engines
Twin 8.1 Merc
My port engine always sounded slow and not the same as my starboard. The batteries are all new and I also tested. Yesterday I went to start and it sounded like it skipped a tooth then started. I'm going to pull the starter tomorrow and take a look. If I decide on a new starter, who sells a good brand?

EDIT.....DAMAGED RING GEAR
 
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Most marine mechanics know of a good electric motor repair shop in the area. If they are well known and have a good reputation trust what they offer.
 
You get what you pay for. Your last starter lasted 15 years, your not going to do any better than that. I put a DB trim/tilt motor on my outboard and it started to rust immediately despite me putting 3 coats of paint on it because I was told it would rust quickly. Yup, 1 year warranty alright and it will last 1 year
 
A couple years ago I replaced the starter on my other boat. I bought the starter from Sierra Marine, through Amazon. I had a local guy do the work.

The started started having problems this summer. I called Sierra, they sent me a new one next day overnight, and (if I could have found the receipt) would reimburse my original install cost.

Warranty service was great, the fact that I needed it so quickly wasn't.
 
Well , found my problem. Spun my flywheel and all looks great..Does anyone know if someone sells a new gear so I can use this starter as a spare?
1.jpg
2.jpg
 
techmitch said:
Take another real good look at that flywheel. That is some extremely abnormal wear on that gear.
Click to expand...

You’re pretty lucky if the flywheel isn’t damaged. The gear is softer than the teeth on the flywheel, but that is pretty damaged.
Something caused that wear on, and the chunk from that gear. Especially the missing chunk.
Hopefully it was something as simple as a gunked up shaft causing the gear to not retract fully or quickly enough after spinning the motor.
Possible it wasn’t shimmed correctly, wasn’t tightened evenly, or was not lined up properly somehow.
The fastest, easiest, and cheapest way to get a replacement Bendix Gear is probably from a local rebuilder if you can find one. Other than that, probably Rock Auto would be a place to start.
Years ago we used to be able to get them from old fashioned auto parts stores, but not many of them left around and unlikely the chain stores would have them in stock or even have a counterman sharp enough to know how to order one.
Offhand, the only parts houses that I can think of on Long Island that you might have a shot are the ones that are part of the CAP group of parts stores. Most still have real countermen or at least they can call their warehouse and talk to a real one.
I’d try a rebuilder first though since they are less likely to have Chinese junk because of the risk of comebacks.
 
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techmitch said:
Take another real good look at that flywheel. That is some extremely abnormal wear on that gear.
Click to expand...
I know the gear looks bad, but it's only 2 teeth that are damaged. I took the picture from 2 angles and it's high quality. If you really look at them the tip of one is damaged and the other is dented. Tomorrow I'm going to go down and have a friend take a look while I slowly look again.
 
mnm99 said:
I know the gear looks bad, but it's only 2 teeth that are damaged. I took the picture from 2 angles and it's high quality. If you really look at them the tip of one is damaged and the other is dented. Tomorrow I'm going to go down and have a friend take a look while I slowly look again.
Click to expand...

That is a really good pic. and I can see at last 3 different types/points of damage, none of which are normal wear.
 
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We had one starter fail with chipped teeth. It would just spin I had it rebuilt 700 hours ago and it is still working.
 
mnm99 said:
So what would cause this?
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I had a starter / flywheel problem on my GMC Acadia. Occasionally it would not catch when the key was turned; there was a dead spot. Turns out I lost a tooth on the flywheel and the starter couldn't engage when the flywheel landed in just the right spot. As things progressed the flywheel would slam into the starter gear and break off more teeth. I had to replace the flywheel, obviously. When I looked at it there were 5-6 teeth missing.

My mechanic said it was a very rare event but what may have cause it was the starter Bendix not retracting at the proper engine speed. If this happens the flywheel will be rotating faster than the starter gear and cause a collision. From the pictures above, there have certainly been some unwanted collisions going on there - I would guess that the Bendix on the starter is not retracting fast enough and the flywheel has hit the gear as the engine started.

If it were me I would replace the starter vs. just the end gear and not reuse it. Install the new starter and see if you have any dead spots. If you do, you're looking at replacing the engine flywheel.
 
b_arrington said:
I had a starter / flywheel problem on my GMC Acadia. Occasionally it would not catch when the key was turned; there was a dead spot. Turns out I lost a tooth on the flywheel and the starter couldn't engage when the flywheel landed in just the right spot. As things progressed the flywheel would slam into the starter gear and break off more teeth. I had to replace the flywheel, obviously. When I looked at it there were 5-6 teeth missing.

My mechanic said it was a very rare event but what may have cause it was the starter Bendix not retracting at the proper engine speed. If this happens the flywheel will be rotating faster than the starter gear and cause a collision. From the pictures above, there have certainly been some unwanted collisions going on there - I would guess that the Bendix on the starter is not retracting fast enough and the flywheel has hit the gear as the engine started.

If it were me I would replace the starter vs. just the end gear and not reuse it. Install the new starter and see if you have any dead spots. If you do, you're looking at replacing the engine flywheel.
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I think you are exactly right. I noticed from the start to the season this starter sounded a little different. The starboard side sounds like grrr grrr grrr grrr, even sound when it starts. The port had a slower start with like a grrr grrr ....grrr. grrr sound. I'm thinking it was loosing power and when I went to start it went grrr grrr grrr cling and I let go of the starter. Hit it again and started. Maybe the gear came back in and got damaged. I NEVER tried to start it while it was running, so that's out. I am picking up an OEM starter, not replacing the gear. If I can find a gear cheap, I'll use it for a spare.
 
The shaft the gear rides on occasionally gets gunked up and interferes with the smooth and free gear movement.
Sometimes it won’t move forward to engage the flywheel, and sometimes it doesn’t retract quickly enough and gets clipped on the faster moving and stronger flywheel.
You might be lucky and that might be all it was.
 
F***..F***... I didn't get lucky...I spun it again with a friend and found this. WTF... 380hrs. I ended up taking the starter off the other engine for now and installed it on this one. It starts much quicker and did'nt grind. I'm going to keep a breaker bar on the boat just in case it falls on the bad teeth. Getting a new starter for the good motor. When it comes out of the water in the fall I guess I have to pull the motor!! Unless someone has done it without, let me know...
flywheel.jpg
 
mnm99 said:
F***..F***... I didn't get lucky...I spun it again with a friend and found this. WTF... 380hrs. I ended up taking the starter off the other engine for now and installed it on this one. It starts much quicker and did'nt grind. I'm going to keep a breaker bar on the boat just in case it falls on the bad teeth. Getting a new starter for the good motor. When it comes out of the water in the fall I guess I have to pull the motor!! Unless someone has done it without, let me know...View attachment 59422
Click to expand...

Sorry for your misfortune but just an FYI, engines tend to always stop in the same couple of spots. Some more than others.
So, that's is going to trash your other starter.
 
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