Some starters don't have a solenoid to shove the starter gear out to the flywheel.  The electric starter rotor spins up almost instantly when you hit the switch, and the little gear is a bit slower to spin up.....so it moves out the threads on the starter shaft and engages the flywheel gear - and is held in that position by the torque as the engine is cranking.

If one of the cylinders fire - it can make the flywheel gear move faster than the little starter gear....and that causes the little gear to move away from the flywheel gear on move back toward the starter motor.  Now the starter rotor and little gear are spinning at the same speed.....so the little gear doesn't move back toward the flywheel.  (You have to shut the starter off and allow it to stop...so that the inertia can once again send the little gear toward the flywheel gear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua6czAxOEs4

JOG , Take a minute and clean All the connections then make sure they are All tight. Everything between battery and starter , All the grounds too !  If it fixes it you have only invested time not a dime and spared yourself the frustration when the new starter doesn’t fix it ! What are we working on ?

well the 1st thing to do is put battery cables to it see if it jumps.

if it's the kind where a solenoid pushes out the gear to engage the flywheel then check that.

he may not want to fix it again but he may have to.

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 03/02/23 at 20:38:10:


You are welcome....glad I could help.

The starter may be fine - the rest of the engine could need a tune up so that it starts and runs on all cylinders.  The starter disengages when the first cylinder fires.....evidently only one cylinder is firing and the rest don't kick in immediately.

There are a lot of younger folks who have never had the pleasure of starting an old car on a cold morning....one that has a carb, manual choke and thick oil.  My first car was a 1950 Plymouth with a flathead inline six  (I got it in 1972],  It had a six volt electrical system, and on cold winter mornings (after the car sat out all night) it would not start.....it would just crank slowly.  I would park the car on the sloping drive that led up to the top of the barn, and that allowed me to coast down the hill and out to the public road - and I could coast down the road and pop the clutch in 2nd gear to get the car started.  For the rest of the day the car would start normally - but the first time I would start it each day it was by coasting and jump starting!  Maybe I could have avoided this by using a lighter weight oil - but I wasn't yet very knowledgeable about those kind of things.

One other feature of the car was the rust hole behind the drivers seat..it was covered by the floor mat.  When you drove in the rain it would throw a small amount of water and fine gravel up on the floor!  Sure do miss the "Good Old Days".