hey guys i havent poked around here much but i just ran into a possible problem. i found a 7 in the back of a local dealership here and am thinking of picking it up but was seeing if anyone had any advise for me. it's a 82' with 143k miles and supposedly runs fine. the snag is that they think that the starter isnt fully disengaging correctly so once you stop the motor then ya have problems starting it back up. anyone heard of this before? or have ideas for fixes?

thanks in advanced.

-Levi

 

It's probably the carburetor, old coils/wires, plus many other issues, the fact that it's so old is the main reason why it's having problems starting, 143k is a lot, if it's still got the original engine you're going to have to rebuild it if you want to continue driving it, new radiator, replacement of steering parts, and you're probably good to go. I have an 85 that had about the same amount of miles and i had to get a new engine, now i need to rebuild the carb or get a new one, and the radiator is just too old to keep, it's eventually going to give so i'm planning on replacing that as well, and new ignition stuff.

Don't think it's going to be a cheap car to fix up, just getting it running good again could cost you a lot more than what you'd expect.

I should add, once you figured the costs of replacing and rebuilding and have a total, double the amount and make that your budget.

 

So what does it do when you shut off the engine . . . not crank at all, grinding, or cranking and just not starting?

 

Not positive. As of how it runs I'm just going off of what they told me. I'm supposed to run down tomorrow to listen and look. I've only seen it while the dealership was closed. Guess i'll find out and are where to go from there.

 

The most common cause related to starter issues is corroded battery cables or dirty connections. Even if it is the starter itself, they can be had cheap.

Worst case scenario would be broken teeth on the flywheel...