David Dickson

Ok, first a little background. I have a 03 Tiburon with the Beta 2 engine in it. I just finished my engine build-up in perparation for some serious power. While the engine was out I cleaned the engine bay and fixed any fraying sections of the harness. I found no wires actually exposed but I retaped everything any ways.
On to my problem. I inadvertantly used the plate that goes between the engine and tranny from an auto tranny car. Unbeknownst to me this was causing my starter not to line up correctly with the fidanza flywheel. So I go to start the engine for the first time and am greeted with all kinds of bad grinding noises. I first thought it was something I screwed up in the build but the engine still moves freely, so its not seized. This is when I found the starter problem. I then proceeded to hack up the auto tranny plate to allow the starter to engage the flywheel. I completely spaced the fact that the plate is what grounds the starter so it can operate. So I go to fire it up and again, the starter doesn't work and I am now blowing the main 100amp fuse in the box.

My question is did I seriously screw something up by hacking the plate or can I just put a ground strap from the starter to the block? Could not having the starter grounded really cause the 100amp fuse to blow?

Help me please? 02.gif

01tibby

you never want to "hack" stuff with the tight tolerances associated with the flywheel/clutch. the slightest bit off can cause big issues.

i don't really know what the plate looks like or what purpose it serves, but get it machined if it needs to be changed. if the the fuse blew, that's good, hopefully your starter was saved.

David Dickson

Its the 3-4mm thick steel 'shim' type plate that goes between the transmission and engine block. I'm assuming its main purpose is to ground the starter case to the engine block because the starter actually bolts to the non-conducting Aluminum tranny case. I tested the starter and it works fine. I'm pretty sure, after some research, that I can just ground the starter directly to the block with a large gauge cable.

01tibby

aluminum conducts. better than steel.

why dont you just get the correct plate? my guess is that the starter and flywheel are misaligned.

optimoprime

i ran into the same problem man, read my beta2 swap thread for pics and solutions to MY problem. maybe this will help you with yours

supercow

^^ that surprised me the other day when you mentioned it. here's a list - not to get too far off topic. http://www.eddy-current.com/condres.htm

anyways, yeah, bolting it to the tranny should be supplying the ground. are you sure you didn't blow the fuse the first time around? before you hacked up the plate?

Cypher

I say, find the correct plate. My motto is "do it once, do it right". After all that work you did it doesn't make sense to hack up the plate just because of your shortsightedness. Btw, I'm not meaning that as an attack or insult. We all make mistakes but its best to fix them properly then to take a backdoor solution which, for all you know, may give you problems later down the road. Thats just my .02

AGreen

Well, if the trans plate didn't properly ground the starter, then you'd have no path to complete the circuit, and you wouldn't be blowing the fuse. You may have hooked up the leads on the starter wrong, or more likely, you have a short somewhere. Like a big wire (starter, alternator) touching part of the body or engine, with no or insufficient insulation.

So long as the teeth of the starter are engaging the teeth of the flywheel properly, at the right depth, I'd see no problem with using a modified trans plate. Only problem is if the plate you have is too thick, then it's going to barely grab the flywheel, and then you'll be in big trouble when the starter strips all the teeth off of it.

David Dickson

Thanks for some of the suggestions guys. Anyone want to buy a paid off 03 Tiburon with a fully built engine, tranny, and high power turbo kit? wink1.gif

So my problem isn't the starter alignment now. I actually did know AL conducts electricity I was just in panic mode and wasn't thinking straight. Feel me? wink1.gif

So my new/same issue is blowing that 100amp fuse. Before I 'modified the transmission shim the problem was that starter grinding. I fixed that and even tested the starter by running a wire from the bat to the switched wire on the starter. It engages and turns over the engine with no problem. Now my main issue, and I don't know what the hell modifying the shim would've done, but whenever I hook up the power lead that goes to the cabin fuse box it kills my battery. I mean it literally goes from ~13volts to .025 volts. Sounds like something is shorting out, but there are no fuses blown inside the cabin. Also I haven't touched anything in there since before I started my engine build and in case your wondering my car ran fine before I started the build.

I'm at a complete loss. Here's what I've tried. I've pulled every fuse/relay from the engine bay fuse box to eliminate extra amperage pull. There is a heavy gauge wire that goes from the bat to the 100amp fuse and then through the fender to the internal fuse box. From the engine bay this is the only wire that is pulling voltage when connected. The starter and alternator leads have no affect on voltage. Igntion is off and key is not in the igntion. The only things that should be pulling voltage are the memory circuits for the radio and ECU.

Next step is ripping out the dash entirely to see what the heck is going on but I REALLY don't want to do that. Any more suggestions?

Denisst99

check if you didn't forget to bolt the engine main ground wire to the starter bolt
check if you didn,t invert the positive en negatives wires
check if the alternator feed wire is okay

blowing a 100 amp fuse is quite a job, if a little 16 gauge wire would be shorted to the ground i don't even think the fuse would blow up, the wire itself would melt