Hah! - fixed my starter motor

[edhorne]

Ever since I've had my car the starter motor has failed to engage until the 4th or 5th time, at which point it works fine. The starter spins but does not engage in the flywheel ring gear.

I spoke to Curd Brothers in Tunbridge Wells, Kent who diagnosed the problem as the clutch which lives inside the gear which is turned by the motor.

The part looks like this:




It cost around £70 and took around 40mins to fit.

Remove passenger side airbox and pipework
Undo starter motor retaining bolts
Turn starter motor so you can see the end with the gear in it
Remove 3 screws holding end plate on motor
Remove 4 screws holding clutch/gear assembly in motor
Reverse the above procedure

Hope this helps someone else with the same problem.

Cheers

Ed

[Ballsy]

That sounds like an easy fix
When mine buggered up i ended up replacing the whole unit at a much higher cost

[ridds]

What do they say happens then?

Mine has thie problem but I find moving the flywheel fractionally (engage a gear and rock the car) seems to help when it happens.

It also happens less when hot. Do they say that the clutch within the gear is slipping on engagement?

[FarmyardPants]

Interesting, and well worth knowing. What did it sound like when it didn't work, was it a free-spinning, contactless kind of sound, or was it more like a fairly loud spinning-but-grating kind of noise? If it's a clutch not engaging I would expect the former. Mine does the latter, but only when people are watching.

[ridds]

FarmyardPants said:

Interesting, and well worth knowing. What did it sound like when it didn't work, was it a free-spinning, contactless kind of sound, or was it more like a fairly loud spinning-but-grating kind of noise? If it's a clutch not engaging I would expect the former. Mine does the latter, but only when people are watching.

Indeed, same here. Restart to put in teh garage after opening the doors, fine.

Stopped in a petrol station earlier that day CCCRRRRUUUNNCCCHHHHHHHHHCCCHIIINNNGGGG.

[Scrooloose]

This is exactly the problem i have.

First start of the day takes about three attempts, generally with the high-speed spinny noise.

It it's warm, it starts on the first press of the button. No problem....

I've been told that I need a new starter, but if there's a cheaper alternative I'm definitely interested!

[ridds]

I've never believed it to be a starter issuse as such as once warm is works fine. Persoanlly I think it's an alignment problem that seems to imporve with heat due to different expansion rates and quantities of ali and steel etc.

[edhorne]

Mine was better when hot. It spun without engaging.

Fine now

Ed