[vprzebinda]

Hi All,
My '83 300TD starter will occasionally make a momentary grinding sound and then spin until I turn the key away from start position at which point it continues spinning down for a few seconds and then abruptly stops. Retrying a moment later it cranks normally and the engine starts up no problem. The chance of spinning seems random, it happens instantly when trying to start or after a few cranks of the engine. Any thoughts on what to look for?
thanks,
-v

 

[Stretch]

Hi All,
My '83 300TD starter will occasionally make a momentary grinding sound and then spin until I turn the key away from start position at which point it continues spinning down for a few seconds and then abruptly stops. Retrying a moment later it cranks normally and the engine starts up no problem. The chance of spinning seems random, it happens instantly when trying to start or after a few cranks of the engine. Any thoughts on what to look for?
thanks,
-v

Pain in the arse on a turbo OM617 but look for missing teeth on the starter or the flywheel. Flywheel is a little easier than the starter to check as there's an access panel at the front of the transmission casing - remove glow plugs and turn crank over by hand - make sure you turn crank in normal direction of rotation.

 

[SpartanPete]

It's also possible that the drive gear isn't kicking out all the way to engage the flex plate and is spinning against it. I would check to see that the starter is receiving good voltage and isn't encountering any undue resistance.

 

[Master7Chief]

My 300TD does the same exact thing because of this...

...It only happens about 1 in 30 starts...

...And it sounds like this... https://youtu.be/OCw4-OeN-i4 (Go 40 seconds in)



I hope this helps.

 

[300Dman]

All of what was said previously is possible You will not know till you take a look.

I have had a similar situation on 3 of My Vehicles since 1968. Last on My Volvo Diesel. In the caee of the Volvo the front face of the Ring Gear Teeth was distored and burred foward. The Starter Gear would be held back by the burs and would spin with out fully engaging the Flywheel Teeth.

On the Volvo and the other Vehicles I was able to file and grind the Burs off and that restored operation.
On the Volvo I did that back around 1994. This year it is starting to do it again once in awhile. I need to pull the Starter and check to find out what is wrong someday.

 

[dkr]

I had the same problem last year. It turned out the bearings on the starter motor was shot. It spun with no resistance after removing it from the car. In my case, I had the flywheel ring gear replaced, although the old one was still in very good shape.

Dkr.

 

[Nutz 4 Benz]

Another cause is the solenoid momentarily arcing itself to the big bolt on said solenoid (the one from battery). If you crank your engine extensively, it will pit. Back in the day I suffered this on old Chevy trucks equipped with quadrajunk carburetor's while starting at -20 to -40 degree F.