.>anyway..i had been running the starter for say, 10 seconds at
>a time...anyone else have an opinion on this??
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You can actually burn up a starter by running it too long. They are only
designed for only VERY short duration operation. In effect, they are VERY
high amperage EXTREMELY light duty cycle motors with coils wound to only
operate for a very short time. The reason is that (A) normal operation is
for a few seconds to start a car, (B) The normal operation generates heat,
because of the very high amperage and power required, but it's such a short
duration that it dissipated in the time its shut off so as not to cause
damage, (C) to make it operate continuously or even say 50 % duty cycle, it
would have to be so big, it would probably be three times the size it
currently is and because of it's "normal" duty cycle there is no need to
make it that way.
So, if you were to continually crank an engine (one with compression as in
the plugs are in it) over an d over for extended periods (say over 20
seconds, which may not sound long but in a starters life that's really
long) then yes, you could burn up your starter -
Barry Schwartz (San Diego) bschwart@pacbell.net
72 PI, V6 Spitfire (daily driver)
70 GT6+ (when I don't drive the Spit)
70 Spitfire (long term project)
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