Starter motor bush, symptoms of being on way out

[Dazco]

My starter motor starts to turn then slows then picks up again . Does this sound like the bush is on it's way out. Other than the initial slowing down it starts fine. 1.9 dg BTW
Thanks , Daz

[mgbman]

Hi Daz, there are lots of posts on the Forum on this subject.

I had the same problem and recently took the Forum advice and got new bush, new starter motor and new gearbox earth strap and my van now starts straightaway.

The old starter motor was very rusted and had corroded where it met the bell housing, which was also corroded.

[Dazco]

Ok mate . Think ill be stripping it all down at weekend ta

[California Dreamin]

Hi Daz
These engines benefit from an extra earth cable...not that they needed it when new but 25 plus years on the connections are corroded and braided cables turning to powder.
Rather than struggling replacing the existing cable on the gearbox end, just add one on the bell housing starter bolt to the close by chassis.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-MADE-24-60 ... 25789ea95c

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CLASSIC-MINI- ... 19da23ba95

Martin

[Dazco]

Cheers Martin, Andreas gonna love all these lists of bits she's gonna have to order off flee bay.
Cheers, Daz

[California Dreamin]

I put one on mine last year when I had my starter off...not that it ever had a slow cranking fault but it used to click once before starting every now and then, been spot on ever since.

It's worth the £7 - £8 for peace of mind and can't do any harm to ensure the engine is receiving an adequate earth.
Obviously you will need to scrape a little bit of chassis paint back to bare metal...

Martin

[Dazco]

I've got the bush already , under 2 quid , so yeah ill do the earth strap as well . The problem , well it's not yet , it seams to make half a turn of the engine then pauses them picks up again and fires . Ill do all the above and see how it goes.

[California Dreamin]

Just check on the length, I'm fairly sure the one I used was 18/24 inches, it needs to be slack. You will probably need to use a round file and open up one eyelet for the bigger starter bolt.
See how you go...fingers crossed.

Martin

[Dazco]

Ta mate

[CovKid]

Could also be weak starter and it keeps reaching part of the engine cycle that has better compression than the rest. I'd definately try the above first though. Also a battery that in all other respects performs reasonably well but struggles to turn engine over. Seen both of those scenarios.

[Dazco]

Battery is a bit on the old side and has had some big drains over the last year, thats also on the list for renewal. Cheers Cov

[Ian and Lins]

Definitely worth replacing the bush. We had the same symptoms for about 5 years (yeah, I know) before I got around to replacing the bush. Then fired up 'on the button'. Not as difficult a job as I expected either.

[Dazco]

Will get done this weekend along with new cable etc.

[RobH]

Got any pictures of how you attached the additional earth cable, think this may help with my "battery" problems.

[CovKid]

As Martin says, get an earth strap and fix one end under the bolt that holds starter motor to bell housing and bolt the other end to somewhere convenient on the chassis. Job done.