Severe Starter Issues (like this is bad...)

[DaMcNastyMan]

My S10 is a 1995 with a 1996 V6 vortec that I threw an edelbrock intake and 500 cfm carb on.

here is the real kick in rump...It eats starters....literally destroys the solenoid.

When I watch it try to turn the motor over it whins n barely turns the motor then the aperture gear slips n makes a god awful metal on metal bang sound.

So when I get a new starter it is fine for a few starts then the problems reoccur.

Could this be an issue of the motor having too much compression for the starter and it not being able to turn the motor or am I missing something else.

I am just tired of replacing starters.

[waumo1]

Did it do this before you installed the manifold and 500 cfm carb?

 

Too much timing?

 

Carb flooding the engine causing hard cranking?

[DaMcNastyMan]

It has never been started with anything other than the intake & carb. It shouldn't be flooding as I have checked for signs of that and the timing is only +3 Degrees according to the markings on the balancer, but I wouldn't understand how timing would effect the starter. Could you explain please??

[00Silverado4x4]

No insult but are the starters being shimmed correctly when installed? Could be the starters are out of whack when engaging the flywheel. Have you done any other mods to the engine? What kinds of starters are you using, cheap rebuilds don't tend to last in my experience.

[DaMcNastyMan]

The starter has been shimmed correctly according to my friend who is a certified GM mechanic and no offence taken. There are no other mods to the engine and the starter was not a rebuild nor was it a high end starter...would you recommend a starter that is high performance/really good for 4.3L v6.

[00Silverado4x4]

In the case of a starter, I'd definitely put some money into it everytime. Also if you've replaced the starter a lot, how is the flywheel teeth looking? It's possible your flywheel is getting grinded down (or worse flywheel is loose) and the new starters are helpful for a bit until the teeth on the starter wear down. I'd pull the starter and run the flywheel around and see what is going on, on the engine side. Also before putting on a new starter make sure it is for your exact engine. I don't remember the timeframe but for a while there was the a 4.3 Vortec and 4.3 non-Vortec. You may be getting the wrong parts and the starters is quite matching up to your engine.

[waumo1]

It has never been started with anything other than the intake & carb. It shouldn't be flooding as I have checked for signs of that and the timing is only +3 Degrees according to the markings on the balancer, but I wouldn't understand how timing would effect the starter. Could you explain please??

Back my days of big high compression V8s, a lot of static timing advance made the engines really hard to crank. Pontiacs were notorious for this. There were even schemes to retard the timing until the engine started. I just made do (still do) with the correct high torque starter, the biggest battery and cables available. Sounds kind of cool actually.

[DaMcNastyMan]

Alright thanks everyone I found a starter that matches everything I need so I'm going ta try it. I will let you all know how it works out.

[Duelin]

I would take the plugs out and engage the starter 20 to 30 times. If everything seems ok then it is a compression issue.