6.2 starter issues

[VegasAR15]

Help me before I tow my truck out to the desert and fill it full of holes. 1985 K5, 6.2 diesel, 700R4, the guy I bought it from seems to have cracked a piece off of the outside hold on the motor and he put in a helicoil. When I first looked at it,the stud on the end of the starter was not in the bracket, but the bracket is there. I have since bolt it to the bracket.
Last Monday my starter began grinding. I went under the truck and it was pretty loose, I could move it with my hand a little bit. I tightened it up, and it was still grinding. I pulled down the starter and we tested it with a jumper box, everything with the starter seem fine. I pulled down the cover under the flywheel and the flywheel seems to be fine. Put the starter back on and the starter is not lining up correctly with the flywheel. Purchased a shim pack with three shims. I tried all three shims on both bolts and with a shim only on the outside bolt. None of them worked, some didn't line up well, some were to far away, some made the gear on the starter stick on the flywheel and not retract. I was able to turn the flywheel by hand.

 

[imiceman44]

Help me before I tow my truck out to the desert and fill it full of holes. 1985 K5, 6.2 diesel, 700R4, the guy I bought it from seems to have cracked a piece off of the outside hold on the motor and he put in a helicoil. When I first looked at it,the stud on the end of the starter was not in the bracket, but the bracket is there. I have since bolt it to the bracket.
Last Monday my starter began grinding. I went under the truck and it was pretty loose, I could move it with my hand a little bit. I tightened it up, and it was still grinding. I pulled down the starter and we tested it with a jumper box, everything with the starter seem fine. I pulled down the cover under the flywheel and the flywheel seems to be fine. Put the starter back on and the starter is not lining up correctly with the flywheel. Purchased a shim pack with three shims. I tried all three shims on both bolts and with a shim only on the outside bolt. None of them worked, some didn't line up well, some were to far away, some made the gear on the starter stick on the flywheel and not retract. I was able to turn the flywheel by hand.

Did you say you were able to turn the flywheel by hand?
That shouldn't happen.
Now if you mean it will turn if you put enough leverage then it's OK.
As for shims, no need for that on a diesel, if the starter doesn't line up, the starter is bad, or the holes on the block are bad.
The only way to rule out the starter is to put another one in there.

 

[VegasAR15]

Did you say you were able to turn the flywheel by hand?
That shouldn't happen.
Now if you mean it will turn if you put enough leverage then it's OK.
As for shims, no need for that on a diesel, if the starter doesn't line up, the starter is bad, or the holes on the block are bad.
The only way to rule out the starter is to put another one in there.

I have a tool for turning the fly wheel. I have read that the early 6.2's were made to use shims, while the later ones weren't, I would assume that a 1985 would be considered early. Last week I bought a new starter from car quest a d bolted it on, same exact thing happened. I took it back because it didn't solve the issue and it was the older direct drive style.

Today I added multiple shims to just the outside bolt and it sounded a lot better but not completely. I think now part of it may be that I have drained down the batteries a bit, so I will be charging them tonight.

 

[diesel4me]

Some GM starters say "NO SHIM" right on the nose of the starter,but I have still had to use some in certain instances to get the starter to work right without grinding or hanging up in the ring gear...........................................One of my 6.2's starters said "NO SHIM" on the nose,when I first got the truck the starter drive refused to engauge below 30 degrees,so I got a rebuilt drive from NAPA for 35 bucks (cheaper than 70 for new,or a rebuilt starter for 145 bucks!)--its worked well without shims so far,and I did add the front brace bracket it was lacking when I got it......................................................................................................More than one gas engine starter I've had would grind away the teeth on the flex plate ,and adding shims to just the outer bolt never seemed to tighten things up enough to make full contact,and I never liked having a starter "cokeyed" on its mounting pad either...it leads to bent bolts,possible block breakage at the outer hole,and other woes......one starter I tried shimming never sounded like the gears were close enough,so I took it to work and milled off about 1/8" off the mounting pad on it,then used shims under both bolts to adjust the clearance,until it sounded perfect.....................................................................................................................................................I added 2 shims to it...........................the best method to check the clearance I have found,is to use a 1/8" allen wrench as a gauge,between the starter drive shaft and the outer edge of the flex plate teeth..it should fit snugly with the starter tight to the block--if not,add or remove shims till the clearance is correct...

 

[VegasAR15]

Finally got it started on saturday. I know the guy that I bought it from had starter issues, so I know he removed it, and I am pretty sure he didn't tighten it up enough. I think it had been working its way loose, and not connecting with the flex plate properly, and slowly chewing up the flexplate. On Saturday I put on a brand new flex plate and new starter. While the old flex plate didn't have any teeth missing or any cracks, the teeth were pretty rounded over in a few sections, which is almost always stopped on. I think it just got so rounded over that the starter couldn't grab onto it and it would skip over the teeth. I was very happy driving it in to work today.