It took me about 5 minutes to find 5 posts on the net about missing starter braces and resulting broken blocks or starter bolts, you must be right, the engineers are crazy
1) Is there a bracket mounted from the front of the starter to the side of the block? if that is missing, that is why the starter mount on the block got cracked. These starters are prone to cracking the block without that bracket. Whatever you do to fix it, make sure you put that bracket back on or the same thing will happen. Good Luck
2) Hi all,
I recently bought a 94 1500 with a 6.5 turbo. Two week later the starter was loose and when I pulled it out to take a look the ear on the block was broke off. I haven't been able to find anyone willing to weld or braze it. Anyone know of a fix? The front brace is missing also.
3) Main cause of broken starter bolts is the bracket on the rear of the starter is not installed.Did your starter have the bracket?I would not use the starter without that bracket on.Starter bolts will keep on breaking!!!!
4) ah, what he said! I had the exact same problem with the starter not engaging and it turned out to be one loose and one broken bolt. I had no support bracket that mount the starter to the engine block. Had to order through dealer (would be an easy scrap yard part if you have one nearby) for the cost of about $13 . You'll need a 1/4-20 bolt to attach starter to bracket.
5) This is common damage found on Chevy's that are not using the forward bracket on the starter. That bracket is often overlooked as it appears to be too small to react any substantial load from the starter, so many people omit it. In reality, it is a significant part of stiffening the stater mounting by providing a 3 point mount that triangulates the forces involved in cranking the engine. When that bracket is missing the stater wants to bend and twist on the forward mounting bolts. This places a lot of side load on the cast mounting boss, which it really isn't strong enough to support so the side blows out. This usually signals the end of the block's useful life as there isn't a sufficiently good and inexpensive way to repair this. Inserts can't replace the strength of the missing casting and welding cast iron is expensive and hardly ever successful even with full block heating which also leads into re-machining all surfaces.
If you choose to think "it won't happen to me", that's fine. The truth is it does happen, and there is a reason that brace is there.
BTW, Chevy B/B and small blocks have starter braces too:
small block GM PART # 3965588
big block GM PART # 3965589
As the aluminum casting and the bolts wear because of torque and twisting, the starter can move further away causing severe starter noise, if left long enough can strip the teeth from the ring gear. I know, you never saw a stripped ring gear either.
The starter can actually loosen the bolts due to engine harmonics and the starter will bounce on the 2 bolts and loosen them up or stretch them. Now if you over torque them
and stretch them until they act like a rubber band they may stay tight.
Me, I'd rather put the brace on and not tighten those bolts so tight it begins to pull the cast iron threads out of the block, your results may vary.............
