I know it is tempting to put the car in gear and try to un-jam a starter, but it
is not a good idea. You can bend the starter shaft. Better to turn the end of
the shaft at the square drive to back it out, then remove the starter for
inspection. Don't ask me how I know this.
Mike MacLean Supercharged 60 Sprite
SDOliner@aol.com wrote:
> I recently went through the following series of mishaps on my TR 4A (I know
> this is the spridgets list!) which left me puzzled until I figured out what
> was happening.
>
> Drove the car and it started misfiring really badly;
> OK couldn't remember the last time I had tuned up the car. (If it ain't
> broke, don't fix it?);
> Checked the plugs, #2 is wet;
> Started by setting the valve clearances. The intake on #2 is way out of wack;
> Bearly had enough screw to set the clearance;
> Went to start the car, starter not engaging, weak battery?
> Charge the battery, still not engaging;
> Clean all the terminals and grounding strap, change soleniod, had a spare.
> Still not engaging;
> Put the car in gear and try to shake "stuck" starter loose;
> Give it a shot of hot start. Short crank, and nasty back fire;
> Eat dinner and come back out, starter woudn't turn over;
> OK bad starter. Pull it out, complain to the list what a pain it was:
> Find front spring broken;
> Buy one from Peter C, get flamed by Ed for including list on my email to
> Peter C;
> Put starter back to together, back in car, same problem;
> Pull plugs, turn over engine by hand, and find it gets stuck with a nice
> clang at one point.
> Take off rocker arm assembly, same deal;
>
> Now I figure I must have dropped something into the bell housing. The car was
> running (on three cylinders) when parked. I should have know if I threw a rod.
> Now I am going to have to separate the engine and tranny. But wait let's pull
> the head off first. Go ahead, spring for a new head gasket.
>
> So there it was. A stuck valve. Bad guide. I think it was only stuck open a
> little when the car was running and misfiring. When I set the valve
> clearance, pushed in down further and stayed stuck. Piston started hitting.
> Jammed up the starter. Starter bendix may have "needed" that front spring
> replaced, but was working OK with the broken one. That misfire, was from
> after I had backed the engine away from jammed point and got a quick fire
> with the valve open.
>
> Luckily the starter didn't have enough torque to damage the piston.
> I guess I should have figured this out, when the valve clearance was so far
> out of wack.
>
> David Oliner
> 60 Bugeye
> 67 TR 4A
>
> OK rather do a valve job than pull the tranny. Comes out of the inside of the
> car in the TR, which means you have to remove most of the interior, and then
> have perfect aim when you insert the tranny pline into the pressure plate.
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