steve_north

Looking for some guidance here. After a good storm last night I spent two hours removing snow with my trusty Toro 521. This morning when I went to fire it up the pull cord had absolutely no tension when I pulled on it. It recoiled as normal. The electric starter sounded like it was spinning freely. Where do I start? I am not an engine expert but I can get my hands dirty. Thanks,

Steve

MrChooks

Hi & welcome to TSF.

OK, that the recoil starter is not engaging may be due to some muck / corrosion in the recoil clutch. If it recoils back OK, then the spring should be OK, so try a good dose of spray lube into the recoil starter and exercise it a bit and see if that gets it to engage - else it's a strip down and clean I'm afraid - not hard but fiddlie and can be a bit of a challenge to reassemble if you are not mechanically inclined.

The electric starter operates on the ring gear on the flywheel - so it's not related to the recoil start. If it is just spinning and not engaging, then it sounds like the Bendix gear is stuck or the ring gear or starter spur gear has been stripped

If it's just a stuck Bendix, then a good does of spray lube in there followed by some exercising the starter might free it, else the starter will have to come off and be cleaned and freed up. If its the spur gear or ring gear - that's a big job if you are not familiar with small engines

steve_north

Thanks for the info. That certainly sounds more encouraging than a blown or damaged engine. Would I have experienced any symptoms before this failure? You indicated that the electric starter operates differently that the recoil starter. Is this one common failure that would make both methods inoperable? Thanks,

Steve

MrChooks

Hi Steve - No, the "sticky" recoil clutch and the "sticky" Bendix on the electric start are typical problems caused by age and loss of initial lubricant / surface corrosion / build up of muck in the mechanisms but are not otherwise related.

The sticky Bendix can also be a wear issue, but as a 1st attempt, I would see how you go with good dose of spray lube.

My guess is that as it has an electric start, you probably don't use the recoil starter that often - hence it could have had a stuck clutch for a while and was only noticed when the electric start starting acting up.

markaoe4

Hi
I was following this thread because I have a problem that sounds the same. The Electric starter will spin but not engage. How or where would I lube the bendix without pulling the electric starter off?
Thanks for any help.
Markaoe4

MrChooks

Hi markaoe4.

The starter motor is located just under the air cowl beside the flywheel.

The easiest way is to remove the cowl, and you will see the starter motor and at the top you should see the Bendix and spur gear. I guess it might be possible to squirt a "bucket full" of spray lube in through any gaps in the cowl - but I wouldn't recommend it - it is likely to go everywhere but where you need it

Once you have the cowl off, you should be able to squirt some lube onto the starter spur gear shaft and even better (if you are a bit handy) use a screw drive to gently move the Bendix and spur gear up and down a little to ensure plenty of spray lube gets on to the threaded spline.

If that doesn't work (test before you put the cowl back), you might as well take the starter motor off for a more serious repair

Note: If you do take the starter off, ensure you mark which wire goes to which connection - so you connect it up the right way when you go to reconnect

markaoe4

HI,
Thank you much! I will be doing this in the morning.

steve_north

MrCHooks:

Went out today and without doing anything the pull cord sprang back to life as did the engine. I will attempt to clean up per your post. You would be amazed at how many posts I have seen on the Net that all assumed the engine was badly damaged or shot when other used my description of the problem. Thanks again!!!


Steve

MrChooks

No problems Steve - pleased to help.

As a rule of thumb on serious engine damage - if an engine was working before it was shut down - it should still be operable when you go to restart it.

In my experience - I have never heard of a catastrophic engine failure that did not involve a fair bit of "banging and clanging" - I have even struck little engine that had seized (due to lack of oil) but that, once cooled down and given a dose of oil, would start up & run again - although not without some lingering damage - nonetheless, they would start and run - BUT DO NOT DO THIS

So in the end, it's always better to look for the simple / common problems 1st - they are nearly always the culprit.

Getting back to your engine, a little bit of lube and TLC - and you should be fine