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It’s about the nastiest sound you’ll ever hear – that grinding shriek that cars sometimes make when the starter engages. It’s the telltale wail of a starter that hasn’t been set up correctly. To those who struggle with this malady, getting one working right may seem like a mystical art, the craft of veteran graybeards who can tell a starter gone awry just from hearing it crank 50 feet away.
Yeah, experience can maybe help a bit in this job, just like any other. But, in fact, setting up a starter is relatively simple, with clearly defined parameters for doing it right. Follow these methods and you'll have a starter that lights the fire on your ride reliably and quietly day after day, year after year.
Setting up a starter to run quietly and consistently isn't a black art. It's actually pretty simple, with just a few key steps to getting it right. Follow these steps carefully and you can avoid the annoying screech of a starter gone wrong.
First off, if your starter is making harsh noises when engaging, or screeching, or doing anything else but the normal things you should be hearing from a starter, fix it now. Every time your starter engages incorrectly, it’s doing damage to the teeth on the ring gear. If it happens enough times, the teeth on the ring gear can get so hacked that the starter won’t even engage anymore. And then you’ve turned a relatively simple job into a pull-the-transmission kind of job.
Now that you see the importance of having a good quality starter and getting it set up correctly, be safe installing it. If you’re in a hurry, it’s easy to overlook disconnecting the battery. But it’s a crucial step. You’ll be working under the car with wrenches, screwdrivers, and other tools. All you have to do is bridge the terminals for a second and the engine can turn over with your fingers precariously on the ring gear. The current can also give you quite a shock – or create sparks that can ignite nearby flammable stuff and start a fire. Then your starter issues are the least of your problems!
When installing a starter, check the clearances every time. No two combinations of starters and engines are precisely the same. It’s these variations that cause clearances that are out of spec and make for faulty operation – and annoying noises that freak out everyone within a block. So don’t skip the steps required to check clearances and correct them if necessary.
Adjusting the clearances on a starter is done with shims. But first, install the starter without shims to see if anything is needed and get a feel for what the basic combination is like. Sometimes you have to make corrections, sometimes you don’t. You might get lucky and have a starter-and-block combination that’s spot on, 100% correct right out of the box.
To check the pinion depth, pry the pinion out with a screwdriver and see how far it engages on the ring gear. You want there to be one-half to two-thirds of the pinion gear engaging the ring gear – no more, no less.
New starters include the proper bolts. But if you’re reinstalling a starter, make sure you have the right ones. Besides being the correct length for your application, proper starter bolts also have a knurled section on their shank. This knurling helps keep the starter in place so it doesn’t move out of the correct position. Using the wrong bolts can allow the starter to shift slightly, taking it out of the correct position and undoing all the work you’ve put into getting it right.
Checking for the proper gear mesh ensures that the pinion is engaging the ring gear at the right depth. An ordinary paper clip is the time-honored tool for measuring this clearance.
Improper torquing of bolts can affect the very clearances you’re trying to measure and correct when installing your starter. So, to make sure you get it right, use an accurate torque wrench and tighten the mounting bolts to the setting specified with your starter kit – even if you’re just installing the starter to check clearances.
The first thing you should check is the pinion depth. Once you’ve bolted the starter in place, use a screwdriver to pry the pinion out of the starter to see how far it extends when engaging the ring gear. You want there to be one-half to two-thirds of the pinion gear engaging the ring gear – no more, no less.
The other critical measurement with starters is the mesh, which is how far into the teeth the pinion gear meshes with the ring gear. Typically, you're looking for there to be between .020 and .035 between the teeth on the ring gear and the pinion. A paperclip works fine for measuring this distance. Just slip it between the teeth. It should feel snug going in. If it’s too tight, you’ll need to correct the clearance.
While the starter is still mounted, it’s important to check the pinion depth and mesh from at least three or four points around the perimeter of the flexplate. That way you can rule out the possibility of a bent flexplate – a bigger problem that needs to be corrected before proceeding with your starter installation.
Once you’ve gotten a handle on how your starter fits your engine, remove it if you need to make adjustments. Aftermarket starter kits typically include shims for correcting clearance issues when installing them. If not, they’re readily available from auto parts stores. The shims for correcting pinion depth are installed between the starter unit’s mounting block and the body of the starter. The shims for correcting mesh go between the starter and the mounting surface on the engine block.
Reinstall your starter and check the clearances again. Repeat the process until both clearances are right. Then reconnect the power and give things one last look over to make sure everything is in place and secure. If you followed these tips, turning the key should give you only the sweet music of the engine quietly turning over and firing, ready for the hefty application of your eager right foot.
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