How bad do I need choke to start ? Choke plungers are stuck and 2 studs broken

[camos]

Put the covers back on and pressed the start button. Didn't spin!

 

So when I loosened the stator cover screws it worked.

 

There was no gasket with cover to begin with and I applied some gasket sealant when putting back together.

 

Like it was already pointed out the missing gasket seems bind the gears.

 

How thick is the oem gasket ? Can I cut one out general gasket material ?

It is always safest to use an OEM gasket but in most cases a gasket can be cut from "regular" gasket paper. The thing is, regular covers a fairly wide range of thickness. You should be able to tell if the cover is meant to be part of how the gears are kept in place. If it is just a matter of the cover not being too close or tight then the thickness won't matter very much as long as it is enough.

 

When using gasket maker or sealant, apply a good amount to one side then close the cover, position it using the bolts but do not tighten until after it has set. These instructions should be found somewhere on the gasket sealant package.

[syscrusher]

It is always safest to use an OEM gasket but in most cases a gasket can be cut from "regular" gasket paper. The thing is, regular covers a fairly wide range of thickness. You should be able to tell if the cover is meant to be part of how the gears are kept in place. If it is just a matter of the cover not being too close or tight then the thickness won't matter very much as long as it is enough.

 

When using gasket maker or sealant, apply a good amount to one side then close the cover, position it using the bolts but do not tighten until after it has set. These instructions should be found somewhere on the gasket sealant package.

 

I don't know what I'm talking about here, let that be known upfront. It must not be a "wet" gasket, ie. keeping the oil in? If a gasket prevents binding and we're not worried about liquid retention, etc. then my approach would be to err on the side of a gasket that was (almost) too thick. Maybe I'm just saying what Camos already just said.

[Flyinfool]

That gasket is holding oil in. There is a lot of oil splashing around in there when running. The stator is cooled by the engine oil being sprayed over it.

[syscrusher]

On the starter.

You mentioned that you had the side cover off for polishing.

Did you use a new gasket when you put it back on or did you use a sealer?

You need the gasket thickness in there or the cover will bind the starter gears.

 

On my 88 it does not mater what the air temp is, if the engine is cold it needs some choke to start.

 

Well I started with "I don't know what I'm talking about...."

 

I guess he was able to run the starter with the cover off because it sits above where the oil level comes up to. I didn't bother to look at the shop manual first I just assumed it was a dry area because he could spin the starter without the cover there. I'd still make a gasket that was plenty thick enough to prevent binding as long as it didn't promote leaking.

[camos]

Well I started with "I don't know what I'm talking about...."

 

I guess he was able to run the starter with the cover off because it sits above where the oil level comes up to. I didn't bother to look at the shop manual first I just assumed it was a dry area because he could spin the starter without the cover there. I'd still make a gasket that was plenty thick enough to prevent binding as long as it didn't promote leaking.

I have never had my starter apart but I would think it is very unlikely for it to be running in an oil bath. It is electrical after all. The gasket would logically be there to prevent water from getting into the motor and, of course, to allow enough clearance for the gears not to bind.

 

I could be wrong so was there any indication of oil being in the motor?

[Arxvz1200]

There's no oil in the startermotor. There's oil behind stator cover where startermotor gears turn flywheel.

 

My startermotor is fine. It's when I put the stator cover back on then it binds the gears. Yesterday I cut gasket from universal gasket sheet. The motor cranked but very very very slowly.

 

I gonna order oem gasket. Hopefully I get it by the end of the week.

 

A

[camos]

There's no oil in the startermotor. There's oil behind stator cover where startermotor gears turn flywheel.

 

My startermotor is fine. It's when I put the stator cover back on then it binds the gears. Yesterday I cut gasket from universal gasket sheet. The motor cranked but very very very slowly.

 

I gonna order oem gasket. Hopefully I get it by the end of the week.

Well, that was an oopsie. Don't know how I got sidetracked to the starter.

 

The stator cover gasket is a medium thickness so closer to the thickness of a cereal box rather than a sheet of paper. Generic gasket material should work just fine. If the gears are binding on the cover there should be a sound that would indicate such a thing happening. Perhaps the problem is somewhere else.

[Flyinfool]

Slow cranking is also fairly common on a stock 1st gen.

The newer 4 brush starter motors are much better.

Even doing the grounding mod to the starter helps the slow cranking.

Upgrading the 3 big power wires from the stock 10GA to 4ga welding cable also helps the cranking a lot. @yamagrl is now making a set of replacement cables.

[camos]

Beside the gasket thickness something that may cause slow cranking would be how the gears were installed. The small gear cannot be installed in just any position. It needs to be rotated until it meshes easily with the larger gear.. In some positions the gear will not go in and in others it will go in snugly but it needs to go in easily. If the gears are not meshing properly then that could cause difficulty turning over when starting.

[cowpuc]

Getting some awesome advice happening here IMHO.. There are a number of things that can cause hard/slow cranking on the 1st Gens.. Thought I might toss this one out too - because our starters are a sealed unit with no where for the brush dust to escape to I have found that the dust gathering on the commutator and armature can cause hard cranking issues too.. I took a hard cranking starter apart a number of years ago - cleaned it up really well (was shocked at how dirty it was) and WOWZY - was amazed at how well it cranked!! Thinking that carbon dust can really short things out in there!!!

[syscrusher]

Getting some awesome advice happening here IMHO.. - because our starters are a sealed unit with no where for the brush dust to escape to I have found that the dust gathering on the commutator and armature can cause hard cranking issues too..

 

That's got to be one of the most interesting and insightful contributions to this thread......