Repair and Diagnosis: Electrical: Starters: Adjustments

NOTE: The following testing and adjustment procedure should be used to correct a noisy starter or other fault. See SYMPTOM DIAGNOSIS before using this adjustment procedure.

Check for a bent or a worn flywheel. Start engine and carefully touch outside diameter of rotating flywheel ring gear with chalk or a crayon to show high point of tooth runout. Turn engine OFF and rotate flywheel so that marked teeth are in area of starter pinion gear. Disconnect negative battery cable to prevent cranking of engine.
Check pinion-to-flywheel clearance by using a wire gauge of .5 mm (.02 inch) minimum thickness (or diameter). Center a pinion tooth between two flywheel teeth and gauge. Do not gauge in corners. where a misleading larger dimension may be observed. If clearance is under this minimum, shimming starter away from flywheel is required.
If clearance approaches 1.5 mm (.06") or more. Shimming starter toward flywheel is required. This condition is generally cause of broken flywheel teeth or starter housing. Shim starter toward flywheel by shimming only outboard starter mounting pad. A shim of .40 mm (.16") thickness at this location will decrease clearance by approximately .30 mm (.012"). If normal starter shims are not available, plain washers or other suitable material may be used as shims.