so i regreased my starter last nite and have had major problems since. first the starter wouldnt even engage (i could hear power going to it but it was not turning). then i tapped it w/ a hammer and the starter turned but would not engage the engine. now the starter is engaging and starting the engine every other turn of the key but not disengaging properly. after the engine starts up i hear a constant clicking noise? can anyone help - i thought this regreasing procedure was a pretty common and easy fix - apparently not. thanks guys.

 

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yeah, any suggestions? or any tips on the regreasing? i was going to try this myself, but if it's not as straightforward as it seems, maybe not.

 

I have done this starter regrease, it was some time ago. The most difficult part was getting the rear (long) starter mounting bolt loose. Go to the stickies and read how to regerease starter once you have it out. You will need a long breaker bar for that long starter bolt, with only 15 degrees or so of movement to break it loose.

 

www.motorvate.ca has a writeup on this I believe. Thanks for reminding me, I gotta do mine too.

 

What does that have to do with his problem???

Anyways, I'd say rip it apart again, and try it again. When I regreased mine, I installed/took apart/reistalled my starter 6 times over three days. I ended up buying a starter from a junkyard, which then I took apart and tried to isolate the problem. Turns out that I installed the "shift lever set" upside down (the little prong thing that will push the gear onto the flywheel), which allowed power to my starter, but would only click since the leverage was the wrong way, and wasn't forcing the gear onto the flywheel. I hope that makes sense.

Again, my best advice is rip it apart, and try to install it the best you can. My bet is it's something with the shift lever set...

 

This horrible excuse for a diagram shows where my problem was: this yellow prong was installed upside down. This prong, when setup correctly, pushes down on the gear to engage with the flywheel. It is connected to the magnetic switch assembly, and when fed power, the magnet gets pulled back. closing the circuit. Man I hope I'm making sense. I know it's easy to understand when you're done, but it can be very confusing when you haven't done it yet.
To see if this is the problem, remove your starter, and if that exposed gear moves without effort (if you tip it and gravity makes it fall to the engaged position), chances are this prong is installed incorrectly or something. You should have to pull on this gear to make it go to the engaged position, it shouldn't do it freely.

The problem with my starter was that after installing again, it would only "click", and hence not crank. I know this isn't your specific problem, but it probably has something to do with it.