Hitting the Starter Motor...

[Lafawnduh]

On a recent trip i had a problem starting the van, and with some very friendly advice from a random Bay owner, i was advised that in this instance i could hit the Start Motor a couple of times with a hammer, then tap the solenoid whilst someone else turns the ignition.

Ive had to do this a few times now, in fact nearly every time i start the van. My question is, how long can i keep doing this???

Also, is it just better to replace it, rather than clean/restore it?

[Plasticman]

Make sure all connections are clean and tight, I had same trouble in Neanagh on way to the ferry and reached through the wheel arch and shorted the main feed to the solenoid wire on back of motor and this worked,
get a new solenoid and swap them over.
ps did you get the manual?
mike

[Lafawnduh]

yes Mike got it on friday...much appreciated

what do you mean you shorted the main feed

[weldore]

take it off..clean up all the connections and check the main lead from the battery.check the braided part from the solenoid to the starter(for corrosion and for it being a firm conection both ends).
check with a tester you are getting a good 12v supply to the smaller wire to the solenoid and that the connection is good.
put it back together and try again.if its still playing up get a jump lead and connect one end to the battery neg and hold the other end onto the solenoid body while someone else turns the key...if it works then you have an earth problem if not then the starter is most likely boogard(or nearly boogard)

E D I T..sorry mickey..i typed it out and you beat me to it..but i thought..what the hell

[VWCamperfan]

All of the above plus... Take off motor and clean the shaft where the gear slides along to engage with the flywheel. This quite often gets dirty and sticky and if it can't slide along the motor wont engage or start.
WD40 will clean it and when its done dry the shaft off and apply a drop or two of engine oil to the shaft where the gear slides along.

Hope this helps!

[Plasticman]

E D I T..sorry mickey..i typed it out and you beat me to it..but i thought..what the hell

Nonsense, you put it much more concisely .
mike

[Lafawnduh]

thanks guys...sounds like a half decent project for me to try out....still a bit of a newbie.

Hoping to head away a couple of times over next few weeks...can i get away with what im doing for a while?

[weldore]

if its just bad connections or as camperfan says..crud on the starter shaft...its very satisfying to fix it and save money on a new one

just need some spanners and some wd40 and a wire brush

if alls well it can easily be done within an hour

[VWCamperfan]

You can get away with it for a while but eventually you will have to track down the culprit. It's only going to get worse!
Shouldn't take too long to sort out when you get into it anyway. Take the motor off and it will enable you to check everything mentioned above. Disconnect the battery first though as there is a permanent live to the starter motor.

[Lafawnduh]

Cool...one fairly small trip this week, but when i'm back, i think ill take the bull by the horns and give it a go!!!

Thanks guys

[weldore]

if it works really well when you hit it..the chances are its only one of the problems we mentioned above and buying a new one would be a waste of money

[Aidan]

imho
get a good refurbished one or have yours refurbished, fit and forget, and fit a new bush at the same time

if you had a petrol syncro you'd realize you only want to do the job once every 5 years

9/10 the solenoid cap is stuffed, that's the most important bit and beyond the scope of most diy mechanics due to the construction of said solenoid

[pistachio]

Hello all,

I think i'm having similar problems with my new (old 1980) T25 Devon... posted this elsewhere on forum but i'll type out again what I said:

Two weeks ago when I picked Terry Tango (Bright Orange) from Derby the test drive was fine but started driving her back to Colchester in Essex and stopped for a coffee, came back to the van turned the key in the ignition and nothing, she didn't turn over, heard a little click but nothing else... so I called the AA and waited and kept trying and after about 45 mins she started up again (told the AA not to bother). Since picking her up, I've had this problem most times i've taken her out, even 20 minute drives where she doesn't get particularly hot, including some dangerous incidents where I've stalled and not been able to get her going again. So anyway... after lots of internet research, I deduced it was a solenoid/started problem which is starting to make sense the more I read but still sounds a lot like gobaldigook to me. Happened again today so instead of waiting an hour and a half for her to cool down I hit the starter casing (started and solenoid is all built into one and encased?) it with a hammer and she started fine (better than ever in fact). Realised from reading here that taking her to the garage may not be the best solution to the problems so I'm going to take time tomorrow to clean up the parts, only problem is, I have absolutely no knowledge of anything mechanical except from what i've read online over the last couple of weeks, so all advice is kindly welcome.... I also found this website quite helpful: http://home.clara.net/hallvw/starter.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thank you for any help you can give at all

Thea

[langb20]

I had a similar problem with my 1.6D starter ages ago, garage took it out and check it, was ok (dirty) but intermittent starting problems persisted. Turns out it was an earth fault - the (one of two) long bolt that goes through the slave clutch mounting, through the starter and bellhousing into the block is also an earth, this was missing/loose - garage guy reckoned 9/10 problems are earth related (but failed to point out a missing bolt!!) go figure.
Cleaned up all the connections and was working again, not before I had the mrs pushing the van backwards in tesco petrol station late one evening (slight incline so couldn't go forward) so I could bump start it in reverse just got her going before hit the vacuum cleaner. ah, happy times. these vans produce such great adveture stories that we tell again and again, especially the simple things that go wrong.
good luck

[Russonly]

I had the same issue after a new starter was fitted

In case cleaning everything doesn't work...

I put one of these in - http://www.justkampers.com/shop/type_2_ ... 1253b.html

Because of the distance in wires travel, age, poor connections etc there can be an excessive voltage drop. This sorted mine out!

BTW - changed the original starter as it was sticking on and I had to hit it to stop it! I guess the new solenoid needed more juice than the first!

Hope this helps