Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

I have an intermittent starter-when cold starts without problem. If I shut it down nothing-acts like a dead battery-just replaced battery last week. Carb switch is working-I suspect the solenoid in starter that engages pinion and makes contact for starter motor. I verified the motor will run. What can be done without pulling the starter-it is heavy!

thks

David

You are correct that the starter is heavy and hard to work with. When removing mine I bought a 3" or 4" long bolt in the proper thread (1/2-13 I believe for the 356 engine) and cut the head and enough of the shaft off that I could clear the starter casting to fit it into position. Removed the easy to access bolt on the starter and threaded the longer bolt in its place to use as a guide and support while pulling the starter out. I found that support to be particularly helpful when trying to replace the starter because holding and aligning the heavy assy to get the bolts started is much worse than just trying to remove it.

IMO, There is not much that can be done without the starter coming off because in addition to the linkage to the pinion shifting fork, there are 4 screws holding the solenoid to the starter case. The two screws next to the engine block are sort of under the solenoid and rotated down near enough to the block a screwdriver will not be able to get to them.

As to what could be happening, there is a copper disc and two copper bolts that make the connection to the starter. I found that entire mechanism to be extremely worn on my car. You can see a relatively mild version of the typical wear pattern on one of the bolts in the photo of a damaged solenoid I have. I could not find any repair kits for this particular Autolite solenoid but they may be on ebay from time to time. In my case, I was able to use parts of a couple of solenoids to repair one that was in much worse shape. The start relay contacts visible in the photo could also be acting up but less likely than wear on the copper bolts.

If your car has the starter safety feature that provides the ground to the solenoid start relay via the generator windings that is still in the circuit, there could also be a chance a problem with a generator brush is acting up when hot and preventing the start.

Attach file:

---

  (89.10 KB)


  (74.57 KB)


  (75.43 KB)

A word of caution if you take the solenoid apart. There are some larger insulating plates, small fiber rings and round fiber washers surrounding the copper bolts. Make sure you note the placement order of all the pieces and condition of them -- particularly the rings. The steel support for the relay goes over the copper bolts and if one of the insulating pieces is damaged or installed out of order the steel can slide down and provide a direct short to the copper bolts and by extension, the battery.

I had a problem with my solenoid as well. I did mess around with it but I decided that it was best to just get one from a rebuilder like Max Merrit. That starter is extremely hard to install and remove because of the weight and I didn't want to have to do it more than once. The money was well spent. Since I installed the rebuilt solenoid the starter works flawlessly.
I doubt seriously you will ever find a rebuild kit for the solenoid. When you open it up you will see it is
a magnificent piece of engineering as all the major parts are machined from solid copper.

where you able to purchase the entire solenoid asm from Max and what did they charge?

thks

The Max Merritt web site shows a price of $275.00 and a core charge of $225.00.

It appears it was not an issue with the solenoid-it was a problem with the voltage regulator-not sure exact nature of the problem. By the way the solenoid can be removed separately from the starter-not easy.

Glad to hear you found the problem. It would be a good time to inspect the solenoid when it is off of the starter.

John-I chickened out on the starter and got a mechanic to help me out-he was able to get solenoid off and reconditioned it. He also found the issue with the voltage relay. Unfortunately I am not able to do as much as I use do on the car. The starter turns much faster now-