I saw posts on mistakenly pushing the starter button while the car already have started, which makes a grind sound if your foot was on the clutch.

Doe it grind the flywheels and the starter's teeth?
I wonder if anyone know how serious if, say, I did it about five time?

 

that's a good question. I've wondered it myself. other than the regular wear-n-tear of using the starter, it is just trying to spin a motor that is already spinning. anybody?

ttt-- free bump

 

its not a matter of trying to spin an engine thats already spinning. When you activate a starter the bendix gear flys down the shaft and engages with the teeth on the flywheel. The grind you get is the bendix having problems mating with the flywheel teeth because the flywheel is already spinning. You can damage both the bendix and the flywheel

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by realdeathsled
[B]its not a matter of trying to spin an engine thats already spinning.

 

well, I guess the only questions that can lead to an answer is ...
has anyone heard of people replacing flywheel because they try to start a started car?

 

That's great...

 

Well I guess the other answer you don't want to hear is ...
Don't push the start button while the car is running.

 

That's a tough question, because you're really asking "how many times can I get away with abusing my starter and flywheel? and the only really good answer is, "is it worth the risk of finding out?"

I've heard of people stripping the bendix gear to the point that they had to replace their starter. I've never heard of anyone actually trashing the flywheel teeth to the point that it had to be replaced. But that doesn't mean that it hasn't been done. IMO, pressing the starter a half dozen times probably won't give you any problems unless you're revving the engine at the same time - Then you run the risk of actually breaking teeth off of the flywheel. Realize that it's not just stripping the teeth. You put stress on the bendix shaft, and it could prevent the gear from fully engaging sometime in the future. This is a relatively common failure of starters.

If you do get to the point where you trash the teeth on your bendix gear, the gears won't mesh properly and you'll get some skipping. If that happens, replace the starter immediately, IMO, continuing to start the car with a bad bendix is harder on the flywheel than engaging the starter while the car is running.

 

You will not hurt your flywheel if you engage the starter while the motor is running. As a matter of fact, you will NEVER harm your flywheel with a starter gear. It's understandable that people wouldn't know this if they aren't an engineer but when you think about it, it's pretty common sense. Engineers design things to have less expensive parts break first if too much of a load is placed on them. This is why nuts strip out before studs or bolts on engines. A nut is cheap, a stud replacement isn't.

1) Which is more expensive for the part plus installation, a starter gear, or a flywheel?

2) Which of the two do you think is engineered to be a softer metal that will fail first when overloaded, the expensive flywheel or the inexpensive starter gear?

3) Question answered.

You won't hurt the starter if you do it once in a blue moon on accident, but if it's something you make a habit of, then yeah, you will be buying a new starter in a few months.

Hope this helped.

 

You will not have any problem with doing that only about five times. You know that something is messed up with you goto start your car and all you hear is a grind instead of it starting.

I know people who have does it on purpose to an enemies car and it took like 30 times to "break" it. BTW he was arrested.