I thought someone might gain some help through reading this. My GSL-SE has had trouble getting started since i got it, the starter always spun but the gear would not engage the flywheel. When it would turn over theres no issues. After replacing all the battery grounds and cables to the starter it did not improve. I even tried adding another 12v solenoid in series but the issue was not electrical in any way.

I took off the starter yesterday and took apart the starter solenoid to find the movement was blocked by the contact ring stopping it from moving all the way. I took some needle nose pliers to it until it would slide freely & still have contact then put everything back together with a fresh lube up. It now starts up easily every time, and this was a basically free fix. When i bought this thing i was told it had a new starter put in, it is a refurbished one aha works great now anyways

 

Yeah the refurbed starters are always hit or miss. Good info to know. Thanks.

 

glad to share, i wish i would have taken a few pictures.

 

thanks for the info.

 

nice share! thx!

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

What is the Contact ring? I just tried to fix this last night! I bought a new solenoid, but either I installed it wrong, or it was a dud. It made no attempt at starting whatsoever. When I took the starter back of the new solenoid was very hot! Anyway, I put the old one back on, and it's the same old problem. Thanks!

 

In my case the contact ring was a piece of metal acting as a washer or spacer between where the solenoid meets rest of the starter housing. It has a piece coming off of it which brushes the shaft in the solenoid. Mine was bent inwards so much that it stopped the shaft completely.

Is your starter motor spinning? Mine was turning the starter motor fine but not engaging the flywheel since the solenoid couldn't move past the first 1/3rd of its travel. I've now had an issue with the car not starting even with the engine cranking over as it should. This turned out to be a combination of using seafoam spray which foaled my spark plugs (i'm thinking) and flooding/how im using my fuel pump switch. Either way its doing great now after cleaning the plugs and the seafoam treatment.

 

The thing about an -SE startup sequence is that you should push the gas pedal all the way to the floor, RELEASE IT, then crank the starter. This sets the fast idle cam, and as the engine spins up, the Airflow Meter will tell the ECU how much air is coming in and how much fuel to inject. There is no need to hold the pedal down when cranking, pump the gas or anything like you might expect with a carburetor.

Once the engine warms up, the fast idle cam will reset through the course of driving, dropping the idle RPM back to where it belongs.

Good fix on your starter, and my experience has been that a lot of no-start issues are with the lead wires being hooked up incorrectly when the starter is reinstalled. If the Bendix/solenoid is very hot, it's because 12v is shorting across it without the main starter motor turning. Most common starter failure is click, no spin - and the field-expedient repair is to whack the back of the starter with a 2x4 to free up the solenoid so it will start properly,... Once.