Stripped flywheel or starter in one spot?

[JHZR2]

Was driving my 96 Ram today, and went to start it after an errand. Instead of the usual diesel crank, I got a high speed whirring sound. I let go of the key, and tried again, very normal crank.

Never had that happen before. Is it a potential sign of something in there being stripped?

 

[FowVay]

It's a sign of a failing starter solenoid.

 

[Lubener]

There is a problem with the Bendix gear on the starter. Best to replace the starter instead of repairing the starter ASAP before your flywheel gets damaged.

 

[Trav]

+1 If there was no grinding noise it sounds like a failing drive on the starter or possibly depending on the starter design a weak solenoid. Pull it yesterday.

 

[ragtoplvr]

It is the starter drive. This starter is known for that. The battery gets weak, the solenoid starts to chatter. The contacts wear. It sticks for a bit. This wears out the drive. The starter motor part seems to never wear out, it can get burned up from the solenoid, but wear out is rare. Get a new starter. check, clean, replace battery and cables.

Rod

 

[wpod]

Inspect the starter and flywheel teeth will wear with a 4 cyl on 2 spots, a 6 cyl on 3 spots and a v8 4 spots.

 

[Leo99]

Happened to my old Corolla. Then a few times the starter gear didn't retract and was hitting the fly wheel. Rebuilt starter fixed the problem.

 

[JHZR2]

It is the starter drive. This starter is known for that. The battery gets weak, the solenoid starts to chatter. The contacts wear. It sticks for a bit. This wears out the drive. The starter motor part seems to never wear out, it can get burned up from the solenoid, but wear out is rare. Get a new starter. check, clean, replace battery and cables.

Rod

The batteries when I got the truck were mismatched, undersized, and not great. So this is very plausible. I have new batteries that are cranking great, and new terminals all around... But the damage could have been done...

 

[JHZR2]

Inspect the starter and flywheel teeth will wear with a 4 cyl on 2 spots, a 6 cyl on 3 spots and a v8 4 spots.

That is a good point. I know I can bar the engine over, but one time I had a hard time doing so. May have been user error, but it may have been a low spot too (?).

 

[Jetronic]

Inspect the starter and flywheel teeth will wear with a 4 cyl on 2 spots, a 6 cyl on 3 spots and a v8 4 spots.

Yes I have taken the toothed ring off a 4 cyl flywheel and put it back 90 degrees further. It looked like I could swap the toothed ring over aswell and have another 2 wear spots.

 

[JHZR2]

I never have encountered this on my 96 ram again, but just encountered this on my 1991 MB 350SD.

It sounds like this video at 30s:

 

[JHZR2]

OK I got my own video. It seems to be happening more often now, as it has occurred the last few times.

Interesting that the tachometer picks up an RPM. I think that means that the engine is actually turning over and the Hall effect sensor on the flywheel is being excited.



You can see that it happened more than once (used to only happen once maybe every 20+ starts) in the video, but then the next time it just cranks like nothing was ever wrong. Does this point to a flywheel issue over a starter issue?

Thanks!