The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Starter troubleshooting advice needed

I am trying to troubleshoot a problem with starting my vehicle. I have a '48 Fleetmaster with a 6 volt electrical system and 216 stovebolt. The starter is a Delco Remy 1107009. When depressing the starter button on the floor, there is a bit of a grunt but the starter does not engage with much more than that. It tries but does not have enough power to turn the flywheel. Here are the things I have done so far:

Battery is freshly charged and putting out appropriate power.

Battery cables and connections are tight and without corrosion. Removed cables at both ends and re-seated and torqued them down.

Confirmed that motor is not seized by rotating the main shaft via fanbelt. Turned without difficulty and provided appropriate resistance for a normal engine.

Confirmed that starter motor rotates freely.

Depressed the starter button on the starter thus supplying power to the starter motor without engaging the drive gear to the flywheel. The power was sufficient to rotate the starter without a mechanical load.

The bottom line is that the starter appears to work without a load but does not have enough umph to turn the flywheel. Could this be a function of worn or missing brushes or something else failed on the inside?

So my initial thought here is that there is something wrong with the starter. Is there anything else I should check before popping for a rebuild? Am I even on the right track? Any advice is most welcome.

If you don't have the equipment to do a load test on the starter (and the starter isn't binding), I'd take the starter in to have it load tested. It could be the brushes or solenoid that may be screwing with you.
Stewart

Check the battery terminal voltage when the starter is engaged and trying to turn the engine. If there's a severe short internally, the voltage will be very low- - - - -3-4 volts or less. The cables will also get hot quickly. If there's a high resistance connection in the starter such as one of the brushes making poor contact or an oxidized surface on the commutator, the terminal voltage will drop slightly or not at all due to low current flow. Normal cranking voltage on a 6 volt system is usually 4.5-5 volts with the engine turning at normal cranking speed. It sounds like there's high resistance somewhere in the starter. You could also try removing the spark plugs and see if the engine will turn with no compression, but it sounds like you need a starter.

Stewart- - - - -a stomp starter doesn't have a solenoid!
Jerry

Sorry, electors. Jerry is right. Stomp starters don't have solenoids. I was thinking of the starter I had on mine. But hopefully you'll find your problem easy enough.

Stewart

Thank you all for your helpful replies. I have taken the advice of Jerry and checked the voltage at the battery while cranking. There was hardly a drop at all. I suspect that the brushes are not making contact. The whole starter is a bit of an unknown so I'm sending it over to a good local shop that specializes in repair/refurbish of starters and generators. I'll report back with the findings.