Resurrecting this thread to see if anyone has any newly formed strong opinions on big bore continental starters.

Time to replace my Delco-remy as she’s all crunchy inside. I could get another overhauled one but my suspicions are that the fleet of cores out there are almost as old as MTV. Thinking new is the way to go.

Talked with a man who overhauls starter adapters for a living and he recommends either the energizer (made by hartzell now) or the Tempest PowerFlite. He leans towards the tempest because of the ball bearings and the superior warranty. Weird thing about the Tempest is they want a core charge for a brand new starter?!?

Both the Tempest and the Energizer (I believe) are almost identical to the old stock delco-remy just manufactured in this century.

I haven’t been able to find a single positive comment about the geared Skytecs either on the Internets or thru my discussions with experts except for the weight savings.

Very curious about the new hartzell PM series (formerly Lamar) with the strong permanent magnet motor. One comment I heard there was that the strong indexing of the magnets can make it hard for the adapter spring to unwind causing premature wear, interesting.

I’m leaning towards the Tempest, anyone? My airplane is 12 volt.

Sam


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I've heard good things about Niagra Airparts. They are a wealth of knowledge as to which starter to go with in your plane. I'd give them a call to add to your knowledge base.

I’ve had a Skytec ST5 on my MT equipped 185 for 2+ years. I’m happy with it.

I have the Hartzell ES646238-2 Energizer style. Installed 4 years ago. Turning a MT prop.

Bigrenna wrote:With respect to the thought of just adding more "stuff" in the baggage, all you have to do is do the math problem out and see just how hard it is to move the CG really far aft.

My favorite mod on my wagon is the Tanalian Horizontal Stabilizer replaceable leading edge kit.

https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/tanalian-aviation-horizontal-stabilizer-mod-21275

Besides making the thin skinned and vulnerable horizontal stabilizer super durable and easily repairable, it adds about 5-7 pounds on about the longest arm available for moving CG rearward.

I have an O-470R and two blade 88” prop with Atlee Dodge firewall battery. It was very recently on the scales, and it’s tough to load it out the forward end of the envelope.

On the permanent magnet Lamar type, I've had issues with the magnets coming unglued from the casing and in general variable performance. Sometimes it cranks amazingly well, sometimes it whines and doesn't spin at all.

The engineer at hartzell steered me towards a Energizer, and the tempest looks like the next one for me personally.

Scolopax wrote:….I have an O-470R and two blade 88” prop with Atlee Dodge firewall battery. It was very recently on the scales, and it’s tough to load it out the forward end of the envelope.....

Jake, what's your empty W&B?
My 53 is 1682# & 34.87", with 5 gallons unusable fuel,
1652# & 34.6" dry.

Over 3 years now on the tempest powerflight. Great starter, zero issues. There was no core charge when I bought mine new, but now I see there is a core charge...weird.

I went with the Tempest since my last post, very impressed with the cranking speed , especially for 12 volts. Fingers crossed for the years to come, looking forward to a long service life.

Looks like the Tempest might be sold as an OEM Cessna part. Part number is the same and Tempest lists Textron as an OEM. Air Power has them listed as a Cessna part for about $800 and no core charge, might be worth a call to see if it is the Tempest Powerflite.

Thanks everyone for your comments on Starters.

I have had a ST3, ST4 and ST5 on my IO520 over the past 2.5 years trying to correct the same symptoms described here.. Not enough torque to get thru the first compression stroke. I have also gone thru the battery replacement route. I am probably nearly $2k into chasing this issue and slightly frustrated. I gave the SkyTec folks lots of patients and commend them for their customer service.

Ordering a Tempest Starter today.

Anyone want to buy a ST3, ST4 or ST5? I’ll make you a great deal!.

I just pulled my 11 month old St-5 off and replaced it with a Tempest on my 182. With an aft battery and a good ground cable from the starter to the firewall, I could probably taxi the plane with the starter. Sky tech sent me a new one which I won't ever use.

My old starter in my 182P is a Prestolite. Darn things just keeps running strong. Last overhauled 31 years ago, and engine starts on first prop rotation.

Heavy, but fantastic starter.

I recently heard that Tempest discontinued their Powerflite starter.

I'm up for annual this month and considering changing my ST-5 for the Tempest as suggested on my IO-520. Pardon my ignorance but has everyone changed the starter adapter as well? Does this come with a new starter when exchanged or bought outright? Obviously I'm not a mechanic. I leave that to the professionals. Just trying to educate myself. My starter seems to work ok swinging my MT prop but it will hesitate. I have the Atlee Dodge firewall battery which is good and strong. I just don't want to get stranded out there somewhere. Help is appreciated. d

MW

The short story: I need a new starter motor. I burned up an old Iskra starter that has been on the engine for at least 10 years and 1000 hours with no trouble. Tempest no longer lists a starter on their site so it does seem that they've discontinued that product. I called Air Power and they want $1260 for a starter motor plus a $300 core exchange. Yikes. Seems like the best option is a new Hartzell Energizer through Spruce for $784 or a rebuilt one for $475.

Any thoughts on new vs. rebuilt or the Hartzell Energizer in general? Goal is to get the most reliability for the buck.

The long story: Went to fly about 10 days ago. I was headed out to an isolated grass strip for lunch. The engine started weakly and I assumed the problem was the battery since the plane had been sitting for 2-3 weeks. Just to be sure, after my run-up I shut down to test the restart capability. The engine wouldn't even turn over. OK, shut everything down and push back to the hangar. Once in the hangar, I turned the master back on and this time the prop turned a quarter turn with the mags off. Uh oh.

Called my A&P and he said bring me the battery, a 6-year-old Concorde. Charged it, put it on the tester, and it failed the load test. OK, I'll buy a new battery. Put it in a few days later and said "what about the prop moving with the master on." He said the starter will probably disengage once the engine is running. Started, shut down to see if it disengages, and no the starter had not disengaged. I start back up, taxi the airplane across the airport to his hangar to check it out. Turns out this was a mistake.

While taxiing, I smelled a burning smell. Hmmm. Airplane won't start at all now and we order a new starter relay. Tow back to the hangar. Three days later we replaced the starter relay, and still no start. Pull the starter off and it smells burned. Now I need a new starter.

Finally we put together what was probably wrong. Relay was bad at the beginning, and the battery was weak. New battery is a good investment so no hard feelings on that. Relay was bad so needed to be replaced, but in the process of taxiing across the airfield I probably burned up the starter. Called Spruce and they struggled to help me find the right one so I decided to do some research first, and here I am. Any thoughts are appreciated!

I wound up installing a Continental Energizer. Kind of heavy! Another option is the tried and true Delco-Remy. There is a guy back East somewhere that is the go-to guy for overhauling them. I have his info. at the hangar. You may also check around for a used/serviceable Energizer - ebay, barnstormers, etc

I just replaced a Skytec ST3 geared starter with a Skytec Energizer because the ST3 was struggling to turn over, with some slipping when the engine was hot. We pulled the adapter at annual and inspected it to find no damage, luckily. The Energizer has enough more torque to eliminate the slipping.

Trust the bunny and go with the Energizer!
I'd prefer to have my old one overhauled, rather than exchanging it for someone's possibly-10 zillion hour core.
But that might add quite a bit of time to the equation.

I appreciate the comments. I ordered an overhauled Energizer from Spruce.

What's the difference in the various Energizer variants? Skytek, Hartzell, etc.