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Starter motor doesn’t engage


Davo

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Progressively my starter motor has increasingly become worse at engaging and starting the engine.  
 

when I try to start it, I can hear it running but doesn’t engage the engine. Try maybe 5 more times and eventually it engages and starts. You can hear it is spinning freely without any catch or grinding against the teeth.  
 

I took the starter off and ran it out the engine as in the video and you can see it pop forward and spin. All the teeth look fine on both the starter and those that I can see on the fly wheel.  
 

ive taken a video of it running as linked below. 
 

I notice there a plastic washer type thing the starter Spindle pushes against. I’m not sure if that should where it is or pushed further into the metal.  
 

Reluctant to go and buy a new starter if it’s in fact the fly wheel or something else! 
https://youtu.be/9OZzBbdGWtc

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I’m not sure o follow. The video is the starter being run connected to the car loom but not connected to the fly wheel housing. It seems to run ok, and the pinion gear appears to shoot out ready to engage when not connected. 
 

aa far as I can tell it continues to behave in the same way when bolted into the housing.  
 

could you elaborate? 

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It can't spin the same way if connected or else the flywheel would turn, assuming it's not taken the teeth off the flywheel. The suggest was to check both the live & the earth to make sure that when under load it's getting full 12V

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Ok.  So I know it’s got the permanent 12v from the battery via the strap. 
I know it’s getting 12v via the ignition.  
 

correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe it is earthed on a pinto via the body.  
 

if it didn’t have 12v ign then nothing would happen when starting it - the motor spins

if it didnt have 12v constant the solenoid would click, but the motor wouldn’t spin. 
 

if there was no earth, nothing would happen right?

 

is that what you meant? 

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Is the body to engine strap in good condition, might be worth cleaning the terminals & checking they are tight, can you also get a video of it when in position? Also look at the teeth on the flywheel, because of compression it does tend to stop in 1 of 4 places end time.

Edit:- Just another thought take the plugs out & try to see if it will spin the engine over then without as much pressure on.

Edited by phaeton
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5 hours ago, phaeton said:

Is the body to engine strap in good condition, might be worth cleaning the terminals & checking they are tight, can you also get a video of it when in position? Also look at the teeth on the flywheel, because of compression it does tend to stop in 1 of 4 places end time.

Edit:- Just another thought take the plugs out & try to see if it will spin the engine over then without as much pressure on.

Ok. I’ll link a couple of videos below 

video 1 shows the solid earth strap back to the battery from the body. Followed by trying to start  .  Difficult for me to tell if it engages or just spins. 
 

video 2 shows it starting and a couple of times seems to catch and try to start. 
 

I’ll try the same later without the plugs in to reduce load.  
 

The starter was bought about three years ago from eBay for sub £100 so not a very expensive one. Having said that, it’s probably not done more than a thousand or so miles. 
 

very happy to by a more expensive starter but don’t particularly want to do that only to find out it was the fly wheel or something else. 
 

 


 

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12 minutes ago, maca said:

It gives the appearance of the solenoid not pre engaging the gear or the starter ring is at fault.

Have you checked the starter ring gear for missing teeth?

It just seems odd the gear appears to pop into place when out of the vehicle.  But yes, it does appear like that. 
 

when it was off I did briefly look inside and saw a section of the starter ring. I didn’t look closely but there didn’t appear to be any bad teeth. 
 

I think, like you say, next thing is to take it off again and have a better look - it’s gotta come off regardless if I have to replace it. 

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Not quite sure what I’m look at but teeth on hue ring gear all present and correct.  
 

https://youtu.be/5Dh8BBZyiyU
 

https://youtu.be/t2Re7wzUkjY
 

On closer inspection I did notice that the ends of the pinion gear appeared worn.  
https://youtu.be/6VisygKvUSM

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6 hours ago, maca said:

Watching your video the problem is the starter bendix gear sticking due to the oil/grease around it.

Have a look at this video 

 

Interesting. Yes, oddly enough I’d already watched that video but wasn’t sure if my starter work by some kind of Soleniod pushing it out or inertia bendix type thing. 
 

I can turn the teeth both ways and it doesn’t force it out. 
 

either way, I think I’m going to have to buy a new starter. 
 

I just wanted to be sure it wasn’t the fly wheel side of things with bad teeth - but from my novice eyes those all look good right? 
 

I might go for a more expensive starter this time rather than the cheapest I can find. 

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