Perfect!!! I was totally flabbergasted when I saw what was happening, how the gear wasn't engaging the flywheel... But your video saved the day. THANK YOU!!
That is exactly what is happening to my E170. I just saw another video, but it didn't go into depth like yours did. I will definitely try your solution before ordering a new starter. Thank You for posting your solution.
Good video, but hardly the only one on YT showing the problem & how to fix. Your starter looks a bit different than our D130, ours has a spring that pushes the bendix up/down and held in place with a mini c clamp. Good tip on holding that bolt in - it’s really in a PIA location.
Thank you! The video is a few years old now and at the time I wasn’t able to find what I was looking for. The bolt definitely has challenges, hope the tip helped!
Thank you so much for this video! As you said, it's the only one! Got a JD 210 making that same noise, have been pulling my hair out trying to track down the cause. Also thank you for the paper towel idea, I'm definitely putting that to use!
This was the same problem I had on a newer Craftsman 5600 riding mower. The DAMN MICE get up in the engine and spark plug nooks probably because its warm and make a nest and end up peeing and pooping all over the place The think the pee on top of the starter gear caused some corroding issues with the starter gear being able to pop up and engage the engine fly wheel properly. Taking the plastic panel cover off the engine and hitting the starter gear with some WD 40 did the trick. Thank you. The WD 40 did its job after about 10 minutes. Whole job took about 35 minutes.
.I had the same problem on my Mercury outboard motor. I sprayed it good with carburator cleaner, blew off the excess, then oiled good. Works perfect now.
I got the same issue, on a 2011 D140. Tried removing the engine cover last night, I guess I've missed some screws. I'll give it a try again, as this would be a much cheaper repair! Thanks
I hope you’re able to get it going. The starters are more expensive than a lot of car starters. Feel free to ask me anything I might be able to help you with. Good luck!
@@maxspeedadventures I was able to get to the starter, and remove 1 of the bolt, the other, I had to order a long T40 bit. I did try to just spray some penetrating oil on it and move the Bendix up/down, but it feels like something is stuck inside the starter and prevents it from going high enough. I'll keep you posted if interested.
@@psanscartier mine had a lot of mice nests around the engine compartment. There was a washer under the Bendix and I believe the mouse urine had rusted the Bendix bottom to the washer top preventing it from moving on the cork screw. If your spins freely but does not move up the corkscrew I would suspect they are stuck together or there is something in the channel of the corkscrew preventing it from moving.
@@maxspeedadventures Yep... confirmed. I think mine had some water caught in it, and then froze solid (I use my D140 with a SnowBlower attachment in the winter). I brought it in the house and after about 30 mins, the whole thing was moving freely. Huge thanks to you!
When you are lubing and fiddling and gunk and rust comes out YEA progress. When I finally get back to work on my "stuff" I'll make a video of my hoarder obsession of riders and buckets of motor parts. It's getting out of hand!
How did you get the cover off the motor? My X300 has the same wheezing sound but does not engage the fly wheel. I took the starter out and nothing was jammed but when I spun the gear it did not climb up the shaft? Were you pulling on it as you spun?
@@HerdDog-f3q unfortunately I can only guess on this one because I’ve not had mine tore down that far. I have to assume from car starters that you’re in need of a whole new starter. Sorry, best of luck!
Great video. But what did you do to the Bendix to get it to come out and engage? I have mine apart now and and I can pull out both the black cover on the shaft and the toothed wheel. But they will not come out automatically when the starter spins. Did you do anything other than lube them?
No, I sprayed penetrating lube in the night before and let it soak. On day 2 I separated the two with a flat screwdriver and sprayed some more lube. Finally I just worked it in and out several times wiping away the rust every couple times and adding more lube until it moved very freely. Best of luck!
Also, I see your flywheel cover is like mine. The three points where it is attached appear to be riveted. When trying to take the cowl cover off the engine it can’t be done as the cover is attached to the flywheel and the hole is not large enough for the cover to go through when trying to remove it. How did you get the flywheel cover free of the flywheel?
If I understand correctly, you need to remove it all in one piece, plastic and all. There are about 5 10mm bolts if I remember correctly on the side of the engine at the bottom of the plastic.
Thanks for your reply. If you look at 1:13 you’ll see 3 pillars in the center of the white plastic fan on top of the flywheel. Those are the attachment points I can’t figure out how to remove so as to be able to lift the black plastic covering from around the engine. I do have it loose and that allowed enough room to remove the starter by pulling out the bottom. Anyway, thanks for the help. I’ll be able to get it or the new one back up from the bottom and wrestle it into place.
Hmm, this is interesting but I may still not be getting a good picture in my head. I wish we were able to share photos. I will add a few details that may not be relevant in your case, but hopefully may help. I never needed to remove the white plastic attached to the flywheel. (You probably already know that) I did remove three, 10mm bolts on the very top that attach to the metal bracket you referred to.(Is yours rivets instead of blots?) This is what I am assuming. It sounds like a painting the butt, but I’m two years out from the project and have had mine back off for tuneups and believe I would drill the rivets out now and replace with something else for easier future maintenance.
Good idea on the drilling. They sure appear to be rivets. I did find an Allen wrench that fit in the indentation but there was absolutely no turning them. I can’t even tell how they managed to rivet them on there in the first place.
I wouldn’t call it a flaw since there are so many that last for years, and everything has its weaknesses. I would say that the two metal surfaces touching and surrounding by rubber if under prolonged conditions of moisture is definitely a weakness.
Well, the gears brand new I wonder if it's a remand starter I bought it off Amazon and it spins fine unless there's a certain speed they have to come up to The old one had two bad brushes in it that were stuck but even if you pull it up and engage the flywheel, it just spins or won't spin at all so I'm confused. I'm not sure what's going on with it
If you can pull it up the corkscrew manually, then I would say it is either not gaining enough speed, the return spring is too tight, or there is something in the corkscrew creating too much drag. I think it should be fine to hit the corkscrew with a small amount of lubricant and work it back and forth a bit.
i'll call the company that sent it to me no it's free. You can pull it up and spin it it just somehow another. Don't activate when the motor runs. If you turn it by hand it's fine.
One last idea that might save some time would be make sure your battery is fully charged. If it’s weak, it may still turn but not create enough centrifugal force to work the Bendix up to the flywheel. I wish you luck and patience.
I think this might be my issue too. The sound you had when turning the key but nothing happening on the fly wheel seems to be what I'm experiencing too. I'll take the covering apart this evening to check the actual problem but it aligns with the sound you had (Mine is a JD D160 from 2012 and I already replaced the Starter once in 2017. If I understand, you basically played around with the outer components because they were stuck/sealed together? Any reason why that would happen ? I used my JD on friday to snowblow, everything was fine, then Sunday, when I tried to start it, I got apparently the same sympton you do. Will report back by this weekend after I take it apart.
I believe the cause to be moisture getting in to the two metal surfaces. Having them sealed somewhat with the rubber outer shell creates a perfect storm for rust. Them two metal surfaces stick together and the starter doesn’t create enough centrifugal force to separate them. If your snow was as dry and fine this week as mine, I’m betting some moisture got inside or the heat from the engine created some internal condensation when it rapidly warmed or cooled. Best of luck!
@@maxspeedadventures So, update. Beauty of working from home. As I said, on Saturday, I used my D160 to snowblow a huge amount of snow from the previous 2 days. Saturday and Sunday where also very cold days here. On Sunday, when I went back to my D160, it woulnd't start. The flywheel wasn't turning at all visually but I could hear all the electrical and mecanical parts as you would expect. Just like in your video. Same sounds (I was pretty sure thus it wasn't the battery or the starter solenoid). After seeing your video and chatting earlier, I raced to the garage and placed a tiny space heater on the right side of the machine near the starter (Underneat it) Left it for about 2 hours or. Then just now before starting to take everything apart, I decided to try one more time the key given all the ice and snow that the small space heater melted. And it started right up. So long story short, I'm convinced you helped me. Essentially, my hood is all broken up so it wasn't protecting the elements as much as it should in 2022 like the machine did when it was new in 2014 (My d160 has been used in all kinds of mowing and blowing conditions -- it's a trooper). In the future, I'll make sure to use the space heater and keep as little ice and snow on the machine as possible. I'll also considering looking into fixing the hood. I'm so happy. Thanks Max for the video and support. Love it when community works.
Great to hear! 1 final thought though, it was likely moisture frozen rather than rusted; do you want to spray some lube in now or possibly leave the heater on with a fan pointed at it also? Make an attempt at avoiding the rusting later.
Interesting. Can you pull up on it manually and see why? As in, is it too far away or too close(needs a shin or one removed), or going up. Just not far enough? Is it possible the teeth on one have too much wear? Just a few ideas.
Well this is stupid but an ez mistake to make the batteries for these have two configurations and I bought the wrong one. The terminals are the same but the plus and mine is reversed so I had the battery hooked up backwards, changed it around and it works fine.😮😮😊
Assuming it does spin, and it does move upwards some, I think you must have rust in the grooves too. I would mount it to a bench like I did, twist it out some, spray a liberal amount of lube in all the grooves and keep twisting as much as possible. Perhaps even mount it in a position where gravity can help work the lube down into the grooves until it opens all the way up. Good luck, and thank you for the comment. I love puzzles!
