We have a 28 volt Turbo Aztec (TIO-540-C1A) that has developed a starter (Hartzell ERB-8011) – intermittent - problem that has us stumped. Wondering if anyone else has seen this?
The right starter sometimes won’t rotate the engine. The internal solenoid will drive the engagement gear out to engage the starter ring gear (with an accompanying ‘bang’!) but there is no* accompanying rotation.
*Sometimes there is no rotation, sometimes there is a slight but noticeable delay then rotation begins, sometimes operation is normal.
We have tried: changing the starter; bench checking the starter solenoid(s), swapping L & R starter solenoids, ohming out the starter switch (which revealed some resistance abnormalities in the right start position - changing the switch did not resolve the problem); cleaning the wire terminal ends at the solenoids and starter, replacing the two ground straps on the engine; starting with the battery disconnected using external power (thus eliminating the Master solenoid from the equation); replacing the braided bus strap between the two starter solenoids with a solid copper bar; checking cleanliness and tightness of electrical connections. We have tried a jumper between the battery negative terminal and the starter. On those few occasions the starter functioned normally; unfortunately we don’t know if the ‘normal’ operation was the result of the jumper or the randomness of the intermittency. All to no avail.
The left engine is totally normal. The right starter doesn’t care which engine we try to start first ~ the sequence doesn’t affect the problem.
The right starter sometimes won’t rotate the engine. The internal solenoid will drive the engagement gear out to engage the starter ring gear (with an accompanying ‘bang’!) but there is no* accompanying rotation.
*Sometimes there is no rotation, sometimes there is a slight but noticeable delay then rotation begins, sometimes operation is normal.
We have tried: changing the starter; bench checking the starter solenoid(s), swapping L & R starter solenoids, ohming out the starter switch (which revealed some resistance abnormalities in the right start position - changing the switch did not resolve the problem); cleaning the wire terminal ends at the solenoids and starter, replacing the two ground straps on the engine; starting with the battery disconnected using external power (thus eliminating the Master solenoid from the equation); replacing the braided bus strap between the two starter solenoids with a solid copper bar; checking cleanliness and tightness of electrical connections. We have tried a jumper between the battery negative terminal and the starter. On those few occasions the starter functioned normally; unfortunately we don’t know if the ‘normal’ operation was the result of the jumper or the randomness of the intermittency. All to no avail.
The left engine is totally normal. The right starter doesn’t care which engine we try to start first ~ the sequence doesn’t affect the problem.
