Bendix not retracted

[TheTurtle]

Plane wouldnt start the other day.  Battery finally gave up.  swapped the battery but havent flown since.  Was twiddling with the plane in the hangar this afternoon and heard a clicking when moving the prop and found that the bendix is out and in the teeth of the ring gear. 

I hosed it down with triflow.  What's the over/under on me needing a new starter?

Im going to go back after work and pull out the plane and hit the starter and then go see if it sucked back in.

Did my annual about 6 weeks ago and hosed down the starter with triflow then so I doubt it was unlubed.  Just crossing fingers I dont need a new one.

[Guest]

The Bendix on the starter requires engine start to retract, don’t worry is the result of not starting not a failure of the starter or Bendix.

Clarence

[TheTurtle]

24 minutes ago, M20Doc said:

The Bendix on the starter requires engine start to retract, don’t worry is the result of not starting not a failure of the starter or Bendix.

Clarence

thanks I feel better!

[Yetti]

Some think that triflow is a bit heavy for that purpose and will attract dirt and cause future failures

[ArtVandelay]

Some think that triflow is a bit heavy for that purpose and will attract dirt and cause future failures

My AP recommends silicone spray. I found when it starts sticking, lubing it is a temporary fix.

[Guest]

I recommend a Sky Tec starter when your Bendix sticks.

Clarence

[TheTurtle]

3 minutes ago, M20Doc said:

I recommend a Sky Tec starter when your Bendix sticks.

Clarence

yea Ive already been secretly hoping it needs to be replaced.  Wife is going to give me the sideeye but man those skytec's spin fast.

[cloud116]

Same thing happened to me. I thought e bendix on the plane was the same type of design as a car. Let the plane sit all weekend only to have my AP educate me the following week. 

[jaylw314]

18 minutes ago, TheTurtle said:

yea Ive already been secretly hoping it needs to be replaced.  Wife is going to give me the sideeye but man those skytec's spin fast.

Ooooh, I see how that works now!

[Yetti]

Theoretically you can get a new bendix for the Prestolite tractor starter down at NAPA.   Once you see what is involved to pull it off and put it back on.   Remove Alternator to get to 2 bolts on the other side, I decided that $600.00 is cheap.  I read too many posts about the great customer service that skytec has which means they seem to fail frequently so I went with B&C Starter.  Supposedly the B&C has bearings and the Skytec has bushings.   Need to count the number of teeth on the starter ring.

[BDPetersen]

It might be appropriate to add a comment on the opposite problem. In cold weather the bendix can freeze so that it doesn’t engage, often after engine shut down after being run. The trick is to “ bump” the starter after shutdown to engage the bendix so it is ready for the next start. We shared that with our highway patrol guys after they had problems after a lunch break on a very cold day. They assumed they had a bad starter. Now it’s their sop.

[TheTurtle]

bumped the engine over a couple times.  That didnt pull the bendix back in.  IA happened to be at the hangar and he told me to start it.  After full engine start everything is fine.

[Guest]

On 2018-03-29 at 5:49 AM, Yetti said:

Theoretically you can get a new bendix for the Prestolite tractor starter down at NAPA.   Once you see what is involved to pull it off and put it back on.   Remove Alternator to get to 2 bolts on the other side, I decided that $600.00 is cheap.  I read too many posts about the great customer service that skytec has which means they seem to fail frequently so I went with B&C Starter.  Supposedly the B&C has bearings and the Skytec has bushings.   Need to count the number of teeth on the starter ring.

“u” shaped ring gear teeth are 149 count, “V” shaped teeth are 122 count.

Clarence