azcouesandelk Report post Posted January 24, 2005 Sorry this is not coues related. OK I have a problem with my Suburban. It is a 1984 with a 454 and it is needing a new starter about every month. I have tried about everything but cannot find out what is doing it. It doesn't have any bad connections. Any help would be appreciated. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ultramag Report post Posted January 24, 2005 whats wrong with the starter.Is it a mechanical failure or electrical. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azcouesandelk Report post Posted January 24, 2005 I am not sure right now all I know is that it will start great for about a month then all of a sudden it won't even turn over and it is really making me mad. On about half of the starteres they will have a crack on it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ultramag Report post Posted January 24, 2005 you night have to install shims on it to make the correct gap between the starter and the flywheel,if its too close it will bind the gears and overamp the starter,causing premature failure, you will have to check on that.the person selling the starter should know that......If thats the problem.are the gears chewed up? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azcouesandelk Report post Posted January 24, 2005 No the gears aren't chewed up and I have tried it with no shims 1 shim 2 shims 3 shims and 4 shims and none have pssed the month mark. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
az4life Report post Posted January 25, 2005 Okay, I will take a guess on this one based on some old time deductive parts counterman reaoning. Been a while so I may be rusty, but here goes... If any of the starters have had the front housing cracked, it is almost always due to kickback (backfire) or misfire. I would suggest the first thing to check is the distributor cap and rotor. The rotor on these models commonly burns through under the center contact. Ususally the burn through creates a miss, then a no start situation. Bad plug wires often create a an electrical "backpressure" and eventually burn out the rotor and sometimes the cap and coil (mounted in the top of the cap) If the ignition looks good, you should check the valve train and timing to see if the backfire problem is valve train related. The shim situation is also key and the starter should be positioned so you are sure of the proper clearance to keep the gears fom binding or rounding off. One other possibility is the flywheel is cracked and sort of slaps the starter drive gear and breaks the housing. My bet is on the misfire, backfire. Don't balme the starters, just figure out what the REAL culprit is and you will get a long life from even a rebuilt. Good Luck! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
grizzly Report post Posted February 2, 2005 I had this problem on a 76 suburban. As I recall the solution I came up with was a temporary, I bought a lifetime warranty at Auto Zone and after about 6 or 7 replacementsin as many months they denied the warranty. The permanent soutin I found was --sell the truck. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sczoner Report post Posted February 3, 2005 My grandfather had same problem two different trucks On one he broke down and bought a new starter from GM and problem was solved. On the other, if I remember correctly, we created a heat shield of some sort between starter and engine. It's been awhile so I don't remember what we thought was causing problem (manifold heat, or engine block), but this also seemed to resolve problem. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
