Essex v6 starter motor woes

[Brand.77 2]

im trying to get the starter motor on my Essex engine to turn over, its a new lucas starter, 9 teeth, works on the bench but once in it wont engage, i can hear it try but it seems to stick , the engine turns over by hand fine, as far as i know its a 3L Capri Engine , new battery, but located in the boot . new loom , its a Cortina Savage so the engine is a bit of an unknown , i bought it as a complete rebuilt engine.

would the flywheel be different on certain engines ?

its it an Earth fault ,as in needs a bigger earth cable closer to the starter ?

 

[sheffieldcortinacentre 763]

Your car would originally have used a MK4 zodiac engine  & starter, with the introduction of the Granada in 72 several changes where made to the Essex engines the parts books list different flywheel part numbers  if yours has the later one that starts with a 72GB part number rather than the earlier one that ends with an E then you may need to use the later starter motor.

Unfortunately it doesn't list the teeth count for them, I've only dealt with the later ones so never had this problem & haven't dabbled with Essex engines since the early 00's when I switched to Windsor V8 in my MK3.

[Brand.77 2]

bugger, i was hoping to get away without taking the motor out 

[sheffieldcortinacentre 763]

You might be able to see number through starter hole, did you fit your original flywheel that worked with starter?

[mk2sav 44]

Should be a 9 tooth pre engaged starter and think the only differences in flywheel is the size of the clutch (9 1/2 inch on our cars) . If you hear it moving to engage but wont spin up id be inclined to check earths first . The battery earth in the boot is critical on these because its a long way to the engine bay . an anomaly on original cars is that there are 2 solenoids as the mk2 before conversion had the separate one on the inner wing and then the other on the top of the starter and if you have this still its easier to bypass to put direct to starter to test . I did have similar issues with mine a while back where I had power to the solenoid but wouldnt turn on the key which turned out to be the wiring through the bulkhead . This was due to the ballast wire being cut out of the system by Uren with a ceramic block type resister in the wiring loom . I only mention this as you stated you had a new loom fitted so all would depend on what has been fitted on that new loom . cheers- Steve. 

[markymarkthree 178]

Whilst doing all this, i would also take out all the plugs to help the engine turn over easier. 

[Brand.77 2]

well that was it , just needed a better earth , which i thought it might , im using an Autosparks loom which in hindsight i wish i hadn't, so i have the double solenoid ,but its turning over a treat now.

onto the ignition system next then 

thanks all  

[STEVE440 12]

I have purchased a couple of Autospark looms and both have been trouble. On one when the indicators flashed the horn sounded. I rung them and they immediately told me what the problem was, apparently they had connected the wires inside incorrectly and if I wanted to send the loom back they would rectify it. Needless to say I didnt and fixed it myself once he had told me where in the loom the problem would be. You would think they would test it especially when you  consider the cost.

A new loom often seems like a good idea but I prefer to repair what is in the car unless completely destroyed. Often all that is needed is some new ends and new loom tape.