What a PIA!
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 888
Likes: 4
From: Ridgecrest Ca
What a PIA!
Last Friday I go to get my coffee and a donut. All is well with the Vette....until I leave. Wierd noise after I started it. Sounded like a bad bearing in something. When I got to the first stop sign on the way home I noticed the voltage dropped to about 10 and when I accelerated away it went back up to about 14. Aha! The alternator is going out. I was only two miles away so I headed straight home. That noise persisted. When I got in the driveway there was white smoke coming out all around the hood.
I open the hood and of course a huge cloud of smoke erupts out but I can see it's coming from low on the passenger side. I figured the starter fried itself. By the time I find the 8mm wrench to disconnect the battery smoke is now billowing out from the engine bay. After the battery was disconnected the smoke slowly dissapated. I'm surprised the neighbors didsn't call the FD.
Two hours later I go to remove the starter and not only is it still warm but all nasty greasy. It is indeed fried. Nothing moves but the drive gear is retracted and I had to use my big pliers to pull the drive gear out. I opened the solenoid and it too is jammed up from the heat.
The PIA part is that the only starter I can buy and get it the next day is a Nippondenso. Physically it appears the same as the Delco Remy I removed but it took almost 1/4" of shims to get it right. The Delco Remy had no shims installed and has been there since 2006. There were no shims to buy so I had to make them myself. Thus 5 hours of shim making, bolt it up, take it down, make more shims, bolt it up take it down etc. It was indeed a PIA. If only I had a lift. Ha Ha.
Back in April the starter had stayed engaged once so I rebuilt the solenoid. I guess I'll go for a whole new/rebuilt starter next time instead of repairing the solenoid. The wait for a new Delco Remy was 8 days so I opted for a rebuilt Nippon Denso. Hopefully not another mistake.
I open the hood and of course a huge cloud of smoke erupts out but I can see it's coming from low on the passenger side. I figured the starter fried itself. By the time I find the 8mm wrench to disconnect the battery smoke is now billowing out from the engine bay. After the battery was disconnected the smoke slowly dissapated. I'm surprised the neighbors didsn't call the FD.
Two hours later I go to remove the starter and not only is it still warm but all nasty greasy. It is indeed fried. Nothing moves but the drive gear is retracted and I had to use my big pliers to pull the drive gear out. I opened the solenoid and it too is jammed up from the heat.
The PIA part is that the only starter I can buy and get it the next day is a Nippondenso. Physically it appears the same as the Delco Remy I removed but it took almost 1/4" of shims to get it right. The Delco Remy had no shims installed and has been there since 2006. There were no shims to buy so I had to make them myself. Thus 5 hours of shim making, bolt it up, take it down, make more shims, bolt it up take it down etc. It was indeed a PIA. If only I had a lift. Ha Ha.
Back in April the starter had stayed engaged once so I rebuilt the solenoid. I guess I'll go for a whole new/rebuilt starter next time instead of repairing the solenoid. The wait for a new Delco Remy was 8 days so I opted for a rebuilt Nippon Denso. Hopefully not another mistake.
