real starting problem

[Ian Hulley]

Main feed cable to the starter or earth cable then, got to be.

Ian

[tonyandjulie]

just got an 'assistant' to turn the key whilst I checked the voltagesa dn the business end.I have 12.7v going into the relay but only 11.5v going out of the relay to the starter solenoid.!!!.

The 12v supply is straight off the battery too. whats happening there then ?.

[..lee..]

right. by pass everything. you have a heavy battery live to the solonoid right use this to jump the lives to where they need to go. that way you bypass the entire system if it doesn`t start then you know its either starter unit or bad earth.

first test you have a good heavy duty live to solonoid and have plenty of amps not just volts. some crazy people do this by scrubbing a screw driver from earth to the live. lots of sparks means you have amps. no sparks means batt u/s or hd batt wire u/s.

bridge the heavy duty live with the other heavy duty wire that goes in to the starter body. starter should spin but not throw in to the flywheel.
if it doesn`t test for continuity between earth and wire in to starter body " starter duff" . and earth and starter casing itself "bad earth to body of starter".

use jump wire to bridge from trigger wire to heavy duty live on starter and solonoid should click, live should be available to wire that goes in to starter body and engine should turn over. if it does this then the fault lies in the wiring.

does this make sence????????

oh. did you change the pinion bush when you did the starter.

[tonyandjulie]

Hi, cheers, Ill give it a go. I didn't change the pinion thingy.

Just for clarity, how many wired should I have going to the starter ?. I seem to have large battery wire to the starter body itself, bolted on. And, a smaller wire that fits onto one of two spade terminals on the starter solenoid. This is the wire that I have been using to open a relay with. Is this the correct amount of wires ?

Thank you again for all of the help and suggestions..I will defeat it lol

[..lee..]

you need to change the pinion bush. a worn one will give you the problems you have. most starters come with one and state you have to change them.

easiest way i`ve found is to screw a tap the right size in to the worn bush and keep turning till it bottoms out. keep turning and it should start to move the old bush out of the bellhousing.

tap the new one in gently and use a bit of lube before you refit the starter.

[Ian Hulley]

Just for clarity, how many wired should I have going to the starter ?. I seem to have large battery wire to the starter body itself, bolted on. And, a smaller wire that fits onto one of two spade terminals on the starter solenoid. This is the wire that I have been using to open a relay with. Is this the correct amount of wires ?

There should be 2 large wires (10mm hole in the end) 1 from the alternator to the starter and 1 from the starter to the main battery. Then there's the blue signal wire with a 6mm spade terminal. It is earthed through the gearbox to the chassis.

Ian

[milky]

you see the large main +to the starter,using an screwdriver or something suitable carefully make a connection to the small +spade connector on the solenoid ,it should click and turn over the motor,also check that the starter is earthed well as the gearbox strap may not be doing its job ,i had to run an extra cable from the bolt on the starter to the battery,as our starter was sparking into the bell housing

[Ian Hulley]

you see the large main +to the starter,using an screwdriver or something suitable carefully make a connection to the small +spade connector on the solenoid ,it should click and turn over the motor,also check that the starter is earthed well as the gearbox strap may not be doing its job ,i had to run an extra cable from the bolt on the starter to the battery,as our starter was sparking into the bell housing

Hastening to add that you must make sure the van is out of gear and that the coil-lead is removed !

[CycloneMike]

I would check the earth strap between the battery and the chassis.
Easiest way is to use a jump lead between the battery -ve and chassis.
I had very similar problems and it was corrosion in the bolt that connected the battery earth lead to the chassis.
It looked fine but it wasn't and I overlooked it thinking it was something more complicated.

Regards,
Mike.

[tonyandjulie]

mmm, looking like may be duff new starter. Where would I get a pinion bush from as a new one didnt come with the starter ?, are they simple to install ?.

[kevtherev]

it should have come with it as it's part of it
ask the supplier to give you
or try brickwerks

Simple to install yes



but a bugger to get the old one out

[milky]

i did think that after i put on post

[tonyandjulie]

Once again, many thanks. Having retested everything again...good earths, 12.7v on the main cable to the starter and 12.6 to the starter solenoid when the key is turned, and still nowt happens, not even a click on the starter solenoid.

So, guessing the voltage issues were the original problem,( now resolved i hope) and changing the starter but not the pinion bush created a new problem ?, does this makes sense to anyone ?. So....it may well be defective new starter ( but the prob was the same on the old starter) or the pinion bush (on order).AAAArgh lol

Thing is...how does a worn pinion bush stop the starter from working ?

2 months and still no starty start lol

[milky]

try this if you dare... take off starter wire it up as it should be on the engine earth it out as best you can with a cable (same size as battery or use the one that goes from the -ve on the battery to the engine block)hold it down by standing on it,and get someone to try the ignition,if it turns over and escapes it will try to kill you ,but you will find out what works

[Aidan]

er ignition switch fault ?, I've only read the last two posts but that looks obvious - try hot wiring it