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Once you have access to see your flywheel, usually by removing the transmission and clutch pressure plate, you will first perform a visual inspection with the flywheel on the car. Check for any grooves in the smooth surface caused by the rivets in the clutch disc, and also look for discolored spots on the wheel. Both of these are indicators that you will need to check the flywheel for smoothness and uniform flatness. If you have grooves in the flywheel, you must remove it and have it machined. While it is possible to continue to use a flywheel that has grooves, it is unsafe for the reason that you must know how deep the grooves are and if they are compromising the thickness and structural integrity of the flywheel. If you are inclined to dismiss this, think about the speed the flywheel spins at and the force of its weight at high rpms, and then notice that there is very little to protect your leg from debris if it shatters while in use. Some drag race cars have armor plates in them for this reason. Now for spots, spots are discolorations in the steel. Discoloration is a key sign that the steel's properties have changed or are irregular. If you have a soft spot in the steel, it will wear faster than the rest of the steel, and if the same spot is hard, the inverse is true. Assuming the manufacturer produced a good quality part, the only thing that will change these hardness properties is heat and cooling, both are significant parts of the operation of a clutch. As the clutch uses friction to transfer power, friction is always accompanied by heat. How hot steel gets, and subsequently how quickly it cools determine its ability to remain at its current hardness state or become softer or harder. Getting it too hot and then cooling slowly is typically the issue, as this sequence of events softens the steel and causes low spots on the flywheel. To test the flywheel for high and low spots or warping, the ideal mechanism is a dial indicator attached to a magnetic or bolted on base. You mush attach the indicator to the engine in some way that it will hold still while you turn the flywheel manually. Do not attach to the car body or frame, the engine mounts allow the engine to move while you are turning it, and you cannot get an accurate reading this way. Once the dial indicator is positioned on the flywheel, and you are using an indiactor tip with a rounded end to provide a smooth reading, turn the engine by hand or by leverage with a pry bar connected to the teeth of the flywheel. Read the dial indicator to see how many thousandths of an inch of movement there are throughout the rotation of the engine. Find your lowest or highest spot. Set the indicator to zero there, then turn it to find the highest or lowest spot and the difference between the two is the amount of warp or depression you have. Check the factory specifications for the tolerance on these, but generally speaking if it's more than .003" or if you see a dip or high spot where there is discoloration, it should be machined flat. If you do not have a dial indicator, a straight edge and a feeler guage will allow you to find this same information. While not as accurate, this method allows you to lay a straight edge across the surface of the flywheel and look for visible signs of light passing underneath the straight edge. If you see them, use your feeler gage to determine how wide of a gap exists. The effort to remove and machine a flywheels is very little, and the expense is minimal as well. Most anyone with a brake lathe can turn a flywheel. It's around 20.00 to have it done and it probably won't add 30 minutes to your entire project. So if you have any suspicion, just have it turned and ensure you've done the job right.
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How can I tell whether my starter of flywheel is bad on my 94 Nissan Pathfinder?
if the starter is bad you will hear one single click, if the flywheel is bad it will sound like a heard of daemons are trying to exit from under your vehicle. if its your flywheel you will know what i mean by the comparison
When starting my 1990 firebird the starter engages but Flywheel wont turn?
One of two things. Either your bendix is bad on your starter (best case) or you have a bad spot on your flywheel and the transmission has to come out. Try turning the motor by hand a quarter of a turn. if it will start after that once then your flywheel is bad. It it doesn't the it's probably the bendix. Good luck.
What could be wrong if your car shrieks when trying to start it?
Bad starter, bad flywheel/ring gear, bad starter/flywheel alignment.
Will a bad flywheel cause a car to not turn over?
A bad flywheel can definitely cause the engine not to turn over. The flywheel has teeth. If the teeth are chipped or broken, then the starter can not engage to spin the engine over.
How do you know if the flywheel is bad in the car?
Teeth will be missing or other visual problem like missing weights, out of round, etc.
Why does the starter in a 1979 Chevy with a 350 small block grind sometimes or not engage into the flywheel too?
This can be caused by a worn flywheel, or a bad starter drive. You'll need to remove the starter and look at the flywheel to see which is bad.
What will cause a flywheel to crack on a 1995 ford 8 cylinder passenger van the newly installed flywheel also cracked?
sounds like it might be a bad starter causing the damage. the only way to know for sure is to have someone who you know is good with vehicles look at it
How do you detect from a good and a bad person?
There is saying " by their fruits you know them". To spot a good or bad person watch their actions.
How do you repair or replace flywheel in transmission?
Remove the trany and you will see the flywheel bolted to the rear of the motor. Remove the bolts & replace the flywheel. Check the starter as a bad starter can chew the teeth off of a flywheel very quickly.
How do you tell if the starter or the flywheel ring is bad on a 1993 Mazda 626 lx?
Remove the starter and inspect the ring gear on the flywheel.
How bad is turning the ignition with the car already running?
bad, you can break teeth of of your flywheel or your starter
What causes a bad fly wheel on an automatic transmission car?
The flywheel can be cracked or the teeth on the flywheel can be broken or worn. Either of these conditions require the flywheel be replaced. I would also replace the starter when replacing the flywheel. This will prevent damage to the new flywheel from the worn teeth on the old starter.
