Greetings,
My 83 Diesel FJ47 troop carrier, 2H motor, is not starting.
*motor turns over (using pipe wrench).
*starter motor bench tested and worked, although it was oily inside.
The noise when the ignition key is turned is a definately clunk, not a click click. A couple of times before this problem (of not starting at all) the starter motor did not engage - about once or twice in a year, but it then worked again.
The battery is charged.
Any help would be appreciated as to what i can do next.
Thanks.

 

Have you checked if you are getting fuel?

Are your glow plugs working correctly?

 

when you say "bench tested" do you mean it worked when hooked up to a battery or it was actually loaded when tested?

If it wasn't loaded, it could still be the starter. An electrical motor can work under a no load condition but still have problems when loaded. Worn bushings can allow the armature to **** and bind. Especially since this is a diesel, it requires a great amount of torque to rotate the engine. (not saying this is a definitive Dx, just one thing to look at) Oil in a starter is not good either. It can carry conductive contaminants that can cause a short circuit. (oil is not conductive by itself)

be sure all connections are clean and tight.

has the battery been load tested? It may have enough ummph to get the hit but simply not enough to crank. ALthough this generally results in a click click scenario, I have had a starter hit hard and then simply fail to crank the engine when a battery was the problem and not have the click click thing.

Is the starter engaging the ring gear or is it possible it is not extending completely and simply hitting the ring gear. Typically you would still have roatation of the starter in this situation but just something else to look at.

 

Thank you for the ideas.
The car has fuel.
Glow plugs were serviced (?) about a year ago.


The bushings on the starter were fine.

I am not sure how to test the battery under load, but I have had it hooked up to the charger overnight.
As far as testing the starter motor under load I assume that requires taking it out and bench testing it again but with a multimetre.....

Cheers and much appreciated.

 

testing a starter under load is just what it sound like.

the starter has to be able to produce horsepower and that requires actually testing it when it is trying to work. It can;t be typically performed at home.

battery load test. (although I doubt it is the battery). a load (resistance) has to be attached to the battery and the results observed. Autozone and I'm sure some other parts stores can do a battery load test and I think a loaded starter test.

a bit of your terminology (cheers and multimetre) tend to make me think you are in Britain or some other British based society rather than here in the US. If so, an "Autozone" is a auto parts store that does some minimal testing, such as I have indicated.

 

We will check that option out on the weekend if it looks like we are capable - lucky I can walk to work up the road. We will get the starter tested under load before we go much further though.
Good guess with the British bit - actually Australian. Bruny Island to be precise!
Cheers and thanks.

 

Greetings & back again,
The starter motor was reconditioned, but when returned to vehicle the problem was still the same - CLUNK.
We then bypassed all the electricals and run the power straight from the battery to the starter and still CLUNK.
Any new thoughts on this problem would be much appreciated.
Cheers and thanks,
Lee.

 

Sorry to hear of the continued problem.

Well,here is what I would do.

Make sure the battery is good, or swap it with your buddies car (when he isn;t looking..................kidding)

Realize that a diesel takes more power to crank it over because of the higher compression. Make sure any battery you do use is powerful enough.

Make sure all electrical connections are good.

If it can be viewed while in place, I would actually watch the starter drive while somebody tries to crank it over. Point being to be sure the starter is engaging the flywheel. ALthough it doesn;t seem to appear you had done nothing to cause the no start problem, (just looking at things that could be a problem and can be verified for free).

Then, if still no luck, I would remove the glow plugs (to alleviate any compression) . You can try to crank it over with the starter. If it won't crank with the starter, I would try with the wrench again. It should crank fairly easily at this point.


That last thing brings to mind something. How is the coolant level now and have you been having any leakage problems you couldn;t find. What I would be looking for there is possibly the engine being hydrolocked where some fluid, either fuel or coolant leaking into the cylinder(s) and preventing the engine from cranking over.

 

Thank you for your reply Nap - we will look into all those ideas.
Cheers,
Lee.

 

Assuming with all the other checks that you have free rotation on the engine, you might also try one of the universal starter troubleshooting techniques. Whack the body of the starter with a hammer a couple of times [don't beat it to a pulp with a sledgehammer; just a couple of solid blows with a regular hammer]; if it then cranks, starter is likely bad. Just be careful you whack the main part of the body and not something breakable like terminals. Also this is usually advisable as a confirmation of a starter you're already pretty sure is bad because whacking it can casue damage to the starter [although by no means does it always cause damage]. The starter in my wrecker [gas motor] goes belly up about every 18 months and the large CLACK with no rotation tells me it's time; usually at a very BAD time. Last time I had a car already loaded [wheel lift] and the engine stalled; got the CLACK when I turned the key. Smacked the started a few good times and got it to crank. Bought a replacement starter later in the day.

 

An update...
The lead from the battery to the starter motor, as well as the earth lead have been replaced and all systems are go! Although we thought they were fine, a second opinion pointed out that they weren't.
Meanwhile, we have a repaired starter motor (our 'lesson'!), and as the battery has been having to work really hard as the leads had started to wear we will probably be up for another battery.

I did learn that if the fly wheel was busted the noise would be a really horrible grating one, as opposed to the clunk...

Thanks again for all contributions, safe travelling.

Lee.