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

My starter (Delco-Remy) works well as far as I can tell, but my car sat for I don't know how many years, maybe decades, before I purchased it. I'm planning to pull the starter to give it a general inspection and cleaning to make sure it's operating as well as possible.

Service manual gives some items to check, but if you have any thoughts or advice let me know!

I suspect, if anything, the commutator may need a bit of cleaning. Several guys rebuilding starters on YouTube have commented about making sure the case and end-plates are clean and grounding well, so I'll do that too. A bit of cleaning and painting as well..............Things that look good always work better!

Bushing wear can be an issue. I don't know if there is an easy or quick visual way to check other than sliding the end plate over the armature while it is out to check for "wobble" but maybe Ross will see your post and comment on a better way to check the armature bushings. Those seem to be a wear item and too much wear lets the armature "drag" which can really increase current requirement and draw -- particularly if the engine and starter is hot. Maybe it would be worth picking them up to have on hand and changing while the starter is out and apart if the one on the end plate looks the least bit worn.

Quote:

A former president of PAC knew little about mechanical work so our joke was, if something wasn’t right he would polish it and if that didn’t fix it he would call me to come and take care of it!

Just tear the thing apart aside from the field windings. They're all built almost the same so DIY it or watch a YT video on how to do that, or look at the cross section in the manual.

Bushing inspection, look at the busing and mating shaft. If only light scuffing on the shaft, it's probably fine. A bit of noticeable play is normal.

Clean up the commutator per instructions that can be found anywhere. I like to chuck it in a drill and use a fine grit sanding sponge with very light pressure, to ensure an even polish on it. Turning it down on a lathe is better. The goal is only to get rid of the grooves. Clean out the junk between the segments but not aggressive enough to tear up the wrapping below.

If the brushes are more than 1/2 worn out, replace. You will need to seat them with sandpaper. Again, instructions online for this better than I can type up in 2 mins.

Thanks guys! All great advice. I'll let you know what I find once I get into it.

Don, if cleaning it doesn't make it better I'll need your address!