Sluggish starter

[crazy4offroad]

Advance Auto had to buy me a new battery cable and flywheel (for a standard trans!!) as well as replace my starter. And I told them if I started having trouble out of my battery, "I'll be back!" Of course I had to get the state Attorney General's office on their ass but they folded.

 

[animal]

Advance Auto had to buy me a new battery cable and flywheel (for a standard trans!!) as well as replace my starter. And I told them if I started having trouble out of my battery, "I'll be back!" Of course I had to get the state Attorney General's office on their ass but they folded.

Cool!

 

[davbell22602]

Advance Auto had to buy me a new battery cable and flywheel (for a standard trans!!) as well as replace my starter. And I told them if I started having trouble out of my battery, "I'll be back!" Of course I had to get the state Attorney General's office on their ass but they folded.

Advance auto starters are worthless and junk around here. I know too many that problems with new advance auto starters and alternators.

 

[crazy4offroad]

To each their own opinion, but the last time I replaced mine was after my headers baked it and I haven't had any trouble since. And that's been more than a dozen years. It could go out the next time i go to start it and I'll feel like it's been a good one and I'll go replace it happily.

 

[davbell22602]

To each their own opinion, but the last time I replaced mine was after my headers baked it and I haven't had any trouble since. And that's been more than a dozen years. It could go out the next time i go to start it and I'll feel like it's been a good one and I'll go replace it happily.

Just had too many wasteful trips to advance auto parts store because half the time they dont have what you want or they dont have it stock for older vehicles.

Except for the time you told to there to get that bottle of purple power de ruster that they had on the shelf for once.

 

[85k10383]

I'm gonna do a little reasearch and see who can get me a good starter for a reasonable price. I would prefer to go local to save time, but if I can get a really good one from Jegs, well........ Does anyone have any thoughts on gear reduction starters? Other than making my Chevy sound like a Mopar anyway.

 

[davbell22602]

I'm gonna do a little reasearch and see who can get me a good starter for a reasonable price. I would prefer to go local to save time, but if I can get a really good one from Jegs, well........ Does anyone have any thoughts on gear reduction starters? Other than making my Chevy sound like a Mopar anyway.

Gear reduction starters are for vehicles without overdrive. If you have overdrive then you need direct drive starter but its not must have.

 

[crazy4offroad]

Gear reduction starters are for high-compression engines.

 

[f1shman]

I'm gonna do a little reasearch and see who can get me a good starter for a reasonable price. I would prefer to go local to save time, but if I can get a really good one from Jegs, well........ Does anyone have any thoughts on gear reduction starters? Other than making my Chevy sound like a Mopar anyway.

I saw this information on another forum but I haven't had the chance to try it out for myself yet so please take that into consideration...

If you run a 153 tooth flywheel (starter bolt pattern is straight across) go to your local parts store and order a starter for a 1995 Corvette 5.7L.

If you run a 168 tooth flywheel (starter bolt pattern is staggered) order a starter for a 2003 Silverado 3500 8.1L.

These newer starters are Nippon-Denso style mini-starters with offset gear reduction. They are easy to obtain at any parts store around the country and can even come with a lifetime warranty (depending on the store of purchase). By upgrading to these newer starters you can get a better light-weight starter and have a lifetime warranty to boot.

 

[HotRodPC]

My starter in my 84 C20 454 died this week too. The truck sat for 3 days. I was cranking it to get fuel pumped back up the carb since it parked on a hill and with the heat, all the fuel in the carb evaporated. It was cranking like hell for about a minute then I let off. Hit it again, and it cranked like crazy about 3 times then started grinding and clicking. I first thought it was the new Never Start battery. But the battery tested as putting out 910 cranking amps for a 800 crank amp battery, and 12.8 volts, so it wasn't the battery. Cleaned all the cables and retested. It cranked and grinded for about 4 cranks. I added 160amp start booster just to get the truck to start, and even then, it just grinded and then clicks. All it will do now. I'm sure the starter is had and already took its last breath. I'm going to clean up a starter that came off a 305 with a rod thru the block from one of those $100 trucks I bought and it'll be up and running again. Good luck to you with yours 85K

 

[dhamp]

Mine was doing that one time, and it ended up being a bad connection at the replacement battery terminal. One day, it was dragging, heard a faint pop (like an fuse blowing sound), then nothing..........Popped the hood to find out the terminal had loosened around the wire some, and had been sitting there cooking over time. That morning, the sliver of metal left on the bottom had had all it could take and it just disintegrated. Since then, I've been checking at least 2-3x/year to make sure everything is still tight.

 

[HotRodPC]

Mine was doing that one time, and it ended up being a bad connection at the replacement battery terminal. One day, it was dragging, heard a faint pop (like an fuse blowing sound), then nothing..........Popped the hood to find out the terminal had loosened around the wire some, and had been sitting there cooking over time. That morning, the sliver of metal left on the bottom had had all it could take and it just disintegrated. Since then, I've been checking at least 2-3x/year to make sure everything is still tight.

I just put the battery in 2 weeks ago since I gave my bro my old battery that was in great shape and bought me a new one. My terminals are clean and tight. I assumed it was bad new battery and took it back and it tested great in volts, crankings amps and draw. Terminals still clean, I tightened up and same thing. When I heard the grinding, I pretty much felt like an idiot for thinking it was the battery. Its grinding bad and ever so slowly, or just a click one time then nothing.

 

[85k10383]

Well, I'm going to take Fishes advice and get the newer Silverado starter (I have a 168 tooth flywheel) That sounds like the best all around way to go for me. As long as the wiring connections are the same I see no down-sides to going that route. I'm gonna run by the Pep-Boys in Winchester and see if they have one I can lay my hands on first.... Once again GMSB comes to my rescue, thanks for all the help guys!

 

[bucket]

Late to the party, but...

When I first got my crew cab, i had the very same issue you are having, and I thought for sure that the starter was crapping out. It turns out that even though the battery was good, it just wasn't strong enough to crank over the big 454 on a hot start. Dual Interstate batteries took care of that. That sucker now cranks over no problem, no matter what the conditions are. Anyway, how are you sure that the battery isn't the problem?


I also generally like the starters that Advance sells. It's the NAPA starters (among other things) that are worthless crap.

And the gear reduction GM starters came in around '95 in the trucks. The starter with the staggered bolt pattern was used on the 4.3, SBC and the BBC. There's tons of them out there and are easy (and cheap) to find used. I usually have a couple extras sitting around here... that's how easy they are to find.

 

[HotRodPC]

I went out to the shed and found I had a good starter off a 305 that I bought with a truck that had a rod thru the block. It appears to be the staggered bolt pattern and should bolt up to my 454. I hope it works. I got it all cleaned up wiping it down with Purple Power.