What's up everyone I have a 1996 Impala SS with a 396 shortblock from Golen.My car has been down for about 6 months now and I was finally trying to start her up today and a few things went wrong. The starter would turn the flywheel like it wanted to start but it never did I would get a couple of rotations and then it was like a loud bang.I immediately turned the key off and looked under the car and the teeth from the starter were still on the flywheel so I loosened the starter so the teeth would go back in. I tried all day and no matter what I did it didn't work at all. I checked the fuel pump,fuel rail pressure,starter was shimmed,replaced the coil,replaced the ignition module along with putting dielectric grease on everything,was getting spark at the plugs so that eliminated the opti,changed all of the plugs which all of the ones I put in prior to those were all covered with gas, and I checked every fuse and made sure everything possible was plugged in.I called Chad at Golen and he told me to check over everything again.I also changed the front of the optispark to MSD so I don't know what else to do.The starter was an LT4 vette starter and I had just recently purchased it because I've been reading how much better it is than the stocker and I also have a brand new stocker. No matter how much I tried to start my car both of the starters teeth stay stuck on the flywheel what causes that? I really need to get this car running by this weekend because a local track is about to open Budds Creek, MD.Here is a quick breakdown of what I have Golen 396,Trickflow heads ported by Lloyd Elliott flowing 297/221,Lloyd Elliott cam,58mm TB,Ford SVO 42 lb injectors,1 3/4 longtube headers,2.5 Spintech exhaust,Cahall 4l60e Pro race trans,Yank SS 3600,Denny's aluminum driveshaft,4.10 GM gears,and of course Bryan Herter tuning. Can everyone PLEASE let me know what you think might be wrong I really need to get this car running any reply would be greatly appreciated!!!!!!

 

Just out of curiosity, does the motor spin over at all? Have you tried turning it over by hand? The only thing I can suggest is to triple check the wires, make sure there not touching and are in good shape. I've had the starter be able to engage, but not have the power to turn the motor over, it turned out my ground cable was bad.

 

injectors maybe, could be a possible fuel issue.

 

If you have a stick, push start it sop that you have isolated the problem to the starter.

Apparently the starters are ok, if you tried 2 of them and the same thing happens. Are you sure that the starters are the correct ones for your engine (if the gears on the starter don't fit the teeth on the flywheel, I can see a problem there.)

Is the starter wired correctly? Make sure you have the thing wired correctly.
also, if the starter is binding that will keep the bendix from disengaging the flywheel once you let go of the key.

Basically sounds like something is misaligned or you;ve got the wrong part.JMHO

 

pull all the plug's out see if the motor spin's freely.. who put your cam in? was it installed correctly? etc?

 

Well guys I think I have it narrowed down to the starter is sticking to the flywheel. I put the Lt4 starter back on and either the flywheel is bent or it is the wrong one I'm not sure yet I'm about to go work on it right now.Shimming the starter does not help at all my last resort is to put some dielectric grease on the teeth of the starter.Golen Engine put the motor together and I put the flywheel on after the motor arrived because Chad said that the flywheel could be bent if he had put it on. I hope this idea works because it seems like it wants to starts but if the starter is sticking it's not going to start.

 

Did you ever get it running? I'm having a similar problem with my 383, I'm just wondering how you fixed it.