Hi. I finally got my tranny back up and now the starter motor won't engage the flywheel I looked at it from all perspectives and can't find a reason. The starter motor gear teeth look like they are far from engaging the flywheel gear teeth (and they're ALL there!) I'm worried that I'll have to take it all apart again. Can anyone give me some advice? The starter looks fine. I"m about to be ~! thanks

 

If I read your post right, you look under there and the starter gear's teeth are set back from the flywheel gears? That's normal.. the solenoid 'kicks' the starter gear into the flywheel teeth and at the same time energizes the starter to spin. Releasing the key de-energizes the starter and the gear slides back to 'away from the flywheel' position.

If you're saying it works as described above, but the starter gear just doesn't kick out far enough to reach the flywheel, then maybe the starter is broken internally. I think it's called a 'bendix' assembly. If you remove the starter and apply 12V, you should see the gear kick out as it begins to spin. Be careful, it kicks out and spins rather violently when it's not bolted down Tell us what you find out.

 

^^This^^
BTW have you tried to start it as it is to make sure that the starter engages or are you just going by how far back the starter gear is sitting?

 

Thanks, I'll try it out and see what happens. I had to take a break and think about it. I'll have to check it out TODAY! Hopefully, it's something MINOR and not MAJOR!!! Thanks!

 

Yeah, Give it a try and see what happens. You have to think about it if the gear on the starter is always touch the flex plate it would always be spinning and you don't want that. The gear pushes out when starting to engage with the flex plate to start the engine. Once it starts end you let the key go the gear will pull back in away from the flex plate.