http://www.foreignautosupply.com/parts-accessories/34-in-line-4-cylinder-vanagon-engine-conversion-flywheel/#.VyvP4vmDGko
Stuart
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Jim Felder
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2016 3:17 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Diesel Vanagon Starter ?
RE diesel flywheel teeth coming off... no, all one piece. Gone are they days, as far as I know, that you could restore a flywheel by grinding through the teeth until you could just knock the ring off with a hammer, then put the new ring in the oven and the flywheel in the freezer and then take that leap of no return. Fun!
Jim
On Thu, May 5, 2016 at 5:11 PM Scott <mailto:SCOTTDANIEL@turbovans.com> <SCOTTDANIEL@turbovans.com> wrote:
the diesel starter uses a bushing mounted in the nose of the starter
itself.
There should be no movement of this bushing in the starter housing,
and the fit of the starter shaft into it is ...'smooth, not sloppy or
tight.'
there is a Retainer Ring sort of thing on the shaft forward of the
bendix drive gear.
Covering that ring is a round part that snaps over the ring under it,
that is in a groove in the starter shaft.
if you wiggle it, it will rock some on top of the ring it's covering.
..kinda a snap fit.
( when I go to replace a bendix drive gear ...I use an open end wrench
over the shaft to tap this retainer thing off the ring. You can see
which way it will go. )
havn't had to look at one in a while, but I'd say this 'cover ring'
thing limits movement of the bendix drive gear toward the flywheel and
slight wiggle is normal..
And I imagine you have a stock diesel flywheel.
in any case...
'Usually' whenever there is oddball or unclean engagement of starter
to flywheel ..
if it's not worn out flywheel starter teeth, it's the bendix drive gear.
a bit fidlly to replace ..
only about 30 bucks from a good starter rebuilder shop ..
take them your starter to get numbers off it .
Heck, I got The Perfect bednix drive gear for my 46 year old Mercedes
car for $ 27 that way.
..and that totally fixed the intermittent failure to engage or stay
engaged.
btw....flywheel teeth.
they don't wear evenly all around the flywheel, since engine
compression causes the engine to stop in 4 places more than everywhere else.
Do rotate your engine through a full turn inspecting those flywheel teeth.
I have long wondered if the ring gear comes off the diesel vanagon
flywheel.
'traditionally'...like on a 70's era Mercedes for example..
That gear is a heated/pressed/and shrunk on ring gear.
Like a 70 dollar part at a 'real' foreign car parts supply company (
not a FLAPS )
to replace it, heat with a torch ...tap if off..
heat new one..drop it onto the shoulder if fits on ..let it cool in place.
Neat.
One of these days I will try that process with a diesel vanagon
flywheel I have, because just rotating that ring 80 degrees or so on
the flywheel with give it fresher teeth for the starter to engage.
hope ya followed al that !~
S.
On 05/05/2016 02:52 AM, Don Hanson wrote:
I have an 84 van with an inline gas motor and the diesel style 50
degree mounting set up. The transmission is currently out. I have
had this strange "squelching" sound when I start the vehicle...not
every time but frequently. Been doing this now for a few years and
perhaps 40k miles...There is no problem starting, the starter seems
to behave normally, other than the weird sound as the gear retracts,
I guess.
On this diesel starter, there is a small bearing or bushing
sharing the shaft with the starter gear. It is about 5mm wide, with
a shallow groove around the circumference and is slightly loose on
that shaft. It seems to be meant to slide back and forth slightly on
that shaft, perhaps to keep the gear from being extended too far into
the flywheel teeth? I can 'wiggle' this bushing slightly with my
fingers....It seems like this could be the source of the weird sound
that sometimes comes when I release my starter switch....kinda
sounds like when you trap a ping pong ball (do people still play
ping pong?) under the paddle against the table....
Does anyone have anything to advise about this? Is that bushing
(sorry for the imprecise terminology) supposed to wiggle, or should it
slide smoothly on that shaft? Can that little bushing be replaced by
itself? What's it called? thanks. Don Hanson
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