Club 80-90 Forums

I used to have a temperamental starter, very slow at first and occasionally refusing to spin at all. The day before our holiday a couple of years ago and the starter refused point blank to spin!!

I tried everything to get it going and finally removed it and stripped it down. The brushes were totally shot, two had worn completely away and the other two were very worn. In my efforts to start it I had connected a wire directly to the starter from the battery and that had resulted in burning the commutator. I had no choice but to buy a new one. A frantic search locally (I live in the middle of nowhere in the Lake District) found a local auto electrical engineers that could order me a new one for that afternoon. I picked it up and they said that it was a more modern design and when i fitted it the difference was amazing. The speed at which it spins my engine makes it sound like a "modern car".

If you are having problems try and take off the old starter and strip it down, it's quite easy to do and shouldn't take more than a few hours.

My new one costs about £100 with no need for the old one to be exchanged so I still have it in my garage somewhere.

Hi
You say you have checked earths? but have you done this properly? have you taken off the gearbox braided cable?
OK my list of suspects in order of probability.
1) Oilite support bush has worn oval.
2) Solenoid 'switch' wire has gone rotten (last couple of inches leading into the spade connector) common.
3) Earth cable to gearbox (I would fit a second earth cable in another place irrespective) it won't hurt and could improve things drastically.
4) Ignition switch fault (around £8.50) and an hour to fit.
5) Starter motor braided wire (between the solenoid and starter body) rots....but you say this is a recon unit soooo.
6) Rotten main positive wire (last 6 - 10 inches internally)
7) Battery terminals (are they original or has it got some of those crap screw fit ones?) I cannot impress on you enough, how important it is to have 100% sound connections...this is because of the near 170amp draw of a starter motor turning a cold engine.
Starter bushes...again unlikely if this is a proper recon.
9) Solenoid main contacts...again unlikely with a good recon.
10) Battery fault....again unlikely although I do agree that a 50ah only just satisfies the bare minimum requirement.....Code 96 or 100 (72ah) would be my recommendation although as I said an 065 is often listed for these models.

Martin

California Dreamin wrote:Hi
You say you have checked earths? but have you done this properly? have you taken off the gearbox braided cable?
OK my list of suspects in order of probability.
1) Oilite support bush has worn oval.
2) Solenoid 'switch' wire has gone rotten (last couple of inches leading into the spade connector) common.
3) Earth cable to gearbox (I would fit a second earth cable in another place irrespective) it won't hurt and could improve things drastically.
4) Ignition switch fault (around £8.50) and an hour to fit.
5) Starter motor braided wire (between the solenoid and starter body) rots....but you say this is a recon unit soooo.
6) Rotten main positive wire (last 6 - 10 inches internally)
7) Battery terminals (are they original or has it got some of those crap screw fit ones?) I cannot impress on you enough, how important it is to have 100% sound connections...this is because of the near 170amp draw of a starter motor turning a cold engine.
Starter bushes...again unlikely if this is a proper recon.
9) Solenoid main contacts...again unlikely with a good recon.
10) Battery fault....again unlikely although I do agree that a 50ah only just satisfies the bare minimum requirement.....Code 96 or 100 (72ah) would be my recommendation although as I said an 065 is often listed for these models.

Martin

Wow - this is really helpful! thanks

Also, meant to say - on ours, when you turns the ignition key, you can hear like what I can only describe as an electrical 'straining' noise if that makes sense. This is like the current is passing but the starter is struggling to turn / crank the engine.
We already had the starter replaced pretty recently so wouldn't expect it to be that...

Hi

Thanks for all the replies. I've not had chance to do much investigation, as the van is in daily use.

I found another wiring bodge tonight - the previous owner had an electric power steering pump installed, and the + 12v supply wire goes direct to the battery clamp, with an in-line 50 amp fuse fitted.

Surely this should have a switched live supply? There didn't seem to be any current drain, but they must consume some current, even when parked?

I noticed that the battery voltage at the fuse box dropped from 12.6V to 12.2V just by turning the ignition on, so I think my battery is goosed even though it is only a year old.

Anyone have a wiring diagram for electric power steering? It's a GM/NSK unit

Cheers
Jim

jimrat wrote:
I noticed that the battery voltage at the fuse box dropped from 12.6V to 12.2V just by turning the ignition on, so I think my battery is goosed

Cheers
Jim

I'm not sure that's true as soon as you turn ignition on there is a lot of things like carb heaters and coil drawing power so id expect a volt drop

Get the power steering fitted with a relay triggered off ignition 12v you don't need a wiring diagram ustjust fit it by the battery take the relay coil feed from black at the dash

Did you do the battery voltage check I suggested on page 1 where you leave it overnight after charging then measure voltage?