starter blew up

[edvanland]

Well if the starter has to go, what better place than at the shop. I had taken the bus in to have a new battery put in for the house side, I have 6, and some wiring moved. As I was getting ready to pull out it quit running, dirty fuel filters we guessed, changed them and it tried to start and then click, click. Now mind you this is blocking his drive, a car can barley get through on each side. Gene the owner came back out on Saturday and checked it out. This morning they pulled the starter and were going to rebuild it, that is when they found out it had litterly exploded. Have ordered a new one which will be in on Tuesday. The old one was going to cost more to rebuild than a new one. Yes Gene is a bus nut, although he sold his GMC.
Will be leaving on July 1st for a 4000 mile trip through the northwest, so was a good thing it happed at home where you have friends who just happen to rebuild commercial starters and alt. 
Ed
MCI 7
Cornville, AZ

[luvrbus]

Buy a 39-MT so much easier to handle and not as touchy about the voltage as the 42 and 50 old Delco,cost little over 300 bucks just a few bucks more than a rebuild on the old starter if you buy one get the correct amount of teeth

good luck

[TomC]

Does that mean he'll have to buy new dentures? (LOL).
MT39= half the weight, half the cranking amps at the same power. Good Luck, TomC

[chessie4905]

   Starter stayed engaged after engine started; sped up the engine and it probably spun up to 10,000 plus rpm and self destructed. Do the math. how many teeth on flywheel vs teeth on starter bendix? Make sure you don't have one of those small starter relays that the 4104 has between the start switch and starter solenoid. The points can eventually burn together over many starts and years and keep the starter engaged. Ours did it while cranking engine before it started. Had to unhook batteries to get it to stop before it burned up the starter. Did some extensive diagnostic work before we found the relay to be the culprit. We first thought the problem was in the starter itself.

[RobSedona]

best place for sure:)

Cornville wow lived there forget the name of the dirt road 2 or three up from the RV park on the same side. Had a round strawbale home LOL. before I moved into the BUS MC5A !

[TomC]

Just so you can compare-I noticed today at our dealership, we have new MT39 starters for $310.00! Good Luck, TomC

[Ed Hackenbruch]

I paid a little more than that for the one that i got from Freightliner in NJ. a few weeks ago. Considering that it solved my problem and got us going again, and that it was so much easier to put in, i am still happy that i got one!

[edvanland]

Don't know what starter they put in, but I trust this guy. Now it cranks good but will not start. When it died we changed the fuel filters, thought it might be a plugged filter, and purged the system, now it cranks but will not start. The fuel shut off is in the correct position. They are checking to make sure there is no air in the fuel lines now so we will see.
On and by the way I just had all new teeth made upper and lowers so I know my teeth are good.
ED

[wg4t50]

Just for useless info, DDC & Cummins normally use the 11 tooth pinion.
You will never install the 50MT on a standard MC7 due to the starter mounts nboard on the goofy bell housing, I tried it, starter body too large to fit. One of the MCI SETUP AT THE TIME, BELL HOUSING BOLT PATTERN IS SAE 1, flywheel is SAE 2, so why it mounts closer to block.
BTDT, one of many learning speriences, try the RTO 910 with that setup.
Dave M

[chessie4905]

   Good you have new teeth now. After your starter and other associated charges, you'll only be able to afford the tougher, cheaper steaks for awhile.