series 60 bad starter?

It's got almost 2 million miles on it—never had the head off—never had the oil pan off—original injectors—only took the injectors out once, about 10 years ago, just to install a half dozen two-bit O-rings—'cause it was makin' oil. That fixed that.

The engine ain't tight. It's wuh wuh wuh...stop. When it stops, the engine rocks a bit. I can see the vibration damper back up a little. As soon as it stops, I hit it again, immediately, and again it spins a little, for a little over a second—wuhwuhwuh... but that's all. She keeps hittin' a wall. I can do it from under the hood. I have a wire from the solenoid that I touch to 12 volts. If I leave the solenoid engaged after the spin hits that wall, the copper strap from the solenoid to the body of the starter immediately gets super hot.

It's hard to figure. When I engage the solenoid and she starts to spin, she spins fast, like normal, but it doesn't last. wuhwuhwuhwuhstop... wuhwuhwuhwuhstop... How the hell do you figure something like that?

I don't like having Lucas in the crankcase. For twenty years I never used any kind of additives at all. I always considered all that stuff bogus. But the oil pressure was gradually dropping, and one day I read the writing on the back of the Lucas jug. I figured I'd give it a try. Result? Instant increase in oil pressure. They said on the bottle that if the engine is real worn you can use half oil-half Lucas. That's what I did. Oil pressure is right up there with the Lucas. I do worry about side effects, like for one thing it leaves a film on the oil stick when I check the oil. I'm planning on replacing the bearings, and then I probably won't use the Lucas.

 

Maybe that's the problem. It's acting weird, though. When she first spins, she spins fast, like free and easy, but it only lasts a little over a second, not even two seconds... then stop. It'll just keep doing that as long as I keep hitting the button. Would pancake syrup at 8 degrees behave that way or would it be tough to spin the engine from the very instant you hit the button?

 

I suppose I'll get the starter bench tested. I went by the fella's shop this morning. He's down with the Chinese virus—quarantined for 10 more days. His shop is the only one I know of around here.

 

It's not the ground strap that's smoking. It's the copper piece from the bottom post of the solenoid that carries the working current into the starter body, to the brushes and the field coils. It's the piece that handles all the current going to the starter. It's getting plenty of current.

My battery cables are mighty. I think they're 0 gauge, and there are two of them for positive and two for negative—with good solid connections everywhere.

 

Another thing, when I jump across the two big posts of the solenoid, without throwing out the gear, the armature spins free. It sounds good, but I don't know if that means anything. Spinning free is easy when there is no load.

 

Yeah, I know. I'm spinning the starter motor without engaging the flywheel. It spins fast, but I don't know if that tells me the starter is good.