Clutch / Starter problem...
 

Hey, this really dosen't have anything to do with RX7's, but i figure it is applicable to any cars and so here it is...

i am working on a friend's car trying to help him figure out what he did wrong with they replaced his engine...

anyway, the car will not start. the starter will engage, has been tested as OK, but it will not turn the car...

in turn, the clutch pedal has gone to shit.

my theory, which has come flying completely out of my ass btw, is that the clutch isn't disengaging when it is pushed in to start the car, therefore the starter is trying to not only start the car, but turn the whole drivetrain as well, (which, fat chance of that happening) which is leaving me with it only clicking for a few seconds (2-3) then stopping till i turn the key again...

is what i just made up even remotely close to something that could be happening, or does anybody have anything else that they can come up with so I can get this thing out of his yard?

Unless its an extremely high compression ratio engine, the starter should be able to move the entire drive train, although it will be rather slow. But I know a few people who had cars that tend to vapor lock or stall out due to being poorly tuned, and they would hard wire the safety switch on the clutch so they could put the car or truck in gear and crank the starter to power themselves away from a red light and keep from blocking traffic. If you put the stick in Nuetral and then only the input shaft of the tranny will turn, so regardless of the clutch condition, the engine should rotate. Can you rotate the engine with a long breaker bar? Try a new (new as in new to the car, not brand new from the store) starter. If none of that works, and the engine can't be rotated by any means, I would wonder if there is some foreign object in the engine preventing it from rotating.

i can turn it with a breaker bar on the crankshaft quite easily...

the starter was tested at autozone and it was deemed good (the guy even brought a new-in-box starter and hooked it up right before us and we watched it hit the same readings...)

the whole thing with the clutch is what is making me wonder about it though... now it is sticky feeling and really light near the top of the pedal travel...

bump...

define "sticky feeling". I don't know if there is a way to load the starter while bench checking it, but its an electric motor, and a load condition will cause it to work a lot harder then just hooking it up to a battery and seeing if it spins. If they can't test it out under load, I would suggest getting a different starter and try to start the vehicle with that.

Try push starting it. Put 'er in neutral get some people pusing it down the road, ease it in to first with the key set to the run position.

by sticky, i mean the clutch feels like it is working more with the pedal closer to the floor, then as you let off, it kinda just jumps to nothingness and releases the pedal rather quickly / effortlessly...

and we would try to push start it, but it is still being worked on and push starting it isn't an option right now as it is up on jackstands missing a rear wheel and a distributor... we don't want to START it, we want to get it to turn over and get the clutch feelign better...

a mechanic friend of mine, however, told me the clutch feeling might just be from the car sitting so long on him, and we will have to drive it to get it back most likely...

help?

Re: Clutch / Starter problem...
 

have u bothered to check battery voltage or terminals connections?

Yes, he had the battery checked as well and it tested fine and was fully charged. Terminals are fine as well....

i once had a starter that had a dead spot in it, meaning that it would work fine sometimes and if it stopped in this one certain spot, it wouldn't work, just click. changed to another starter and solved the problem, even tho the first one worked just fine off the car.

a mechainc's wife (friend of mine) told me that her husband said to run a higher gauge power wire directly to the starter, then see if that works?

good idea / bad idea?