Club 80-90 Forums

Hi all,
The starter on my 1983 1900cc van will only turn very slowly. I have cleaned and replaced all earth conections, replaced the battery and starter and its still the same. Does anyone have any other suggestions because I am stumped.

Hi, try looking here: https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/VW ... rter_motor

Hi, as you seem to have covered most bases I suspect you have the fairly common worn starter motor bush issue.

Try reading these =
Here = https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=106794" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
And here = https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Pe ... sh_removal" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

p.s. Don't ever test the starter motor off the van as the rotor is only supported at one end, the other support being the bush that is likely shot.

Hi, Thanks for your help. I did not realise that the bush could cause this ploblem. the replacment starter was second hand so did not come with bush but I have now ordered one and fingers crossed that will sort it once fitted.
I will let you know how it goes. Thanks again

Despite claims to the contrary, starter motors can run slowly when fairly knackered. A bush may cure it but it may be time for a new or rebuilt starter. Had two or three like that in 25 years.

My starter motor failed last month, when I stripped it down I found that two of the brushes were none existent and it looked like they had been that way for a while, the comutator(I think that's what the brass bits called) looked good except for a couple of the contacts which were severely pitted, I had probably caused this when I "hot wired" the starter to try and get it going when all my other tests had failed to move it.

To cut a long story short I ended up having to buy a new starter motor at short notice and when I elected to keep my old starter the auto-electrician informed my that the new one wasn't the same type as my old one but of a "modern design". The new starter does sound very different, much more like my Golf's or Polo's starter, so I would go for a new one every time now instead of a reconditioned one.

(my new starter motor was £120, expensive I thought but I was desperate)

The new starter sounds, much more like my Golf's

Ah, sounds like a Golf

Don't bother with a GsF starter, I bought a new ( not recon) one from GsF, and it turned slow from the beginning, Suomi though as I had changed the bush and all electrical connections were fine and dandy I would change the bush again, as I doubted my fitting of the first one, though maybe I had burred it putting it in.... Changed it , no difference, put my old spare starter on, and all was good. GsF are getting the new one back under warranty !

Hi

From my very recent experience, I would go with the bush. I was surprised what a difference it made and I had similar problems to you.

Cheers

Mocki wrote:Don't bother with a GsF starter, I bought a new ( not recon) one from GsF, and it turned slow from the beginning, Suomi though as I had changed the bush and all electrical connections were fine and dandy I would change the bush again, as I doubted my fitting of the first one, though maybe I had burred it putting it in.... Changed it , no difference, put my old spare starter on, and all was good. GsF are getting the new one back under warranty !

Jeez, that must have been irksome to say the least

Thanks for everyones advice I have now fitted a new bush but the problem is still there. After turning the key on and off a few times trying to get it to turn at the correct speed it suddenly started working fine for a short while and then back to turning slow again. I can not think of anything else that I could do but there must be a fault somewhere.
Any other suggestions welcome.

Well if you are sure all the relevant connections are good and the starter motor you fitted was a second hand one, then the next port of call would be a new starter motor From here

The only last attempt at diagnosis would be to (carefully !) connect a multi meter set to read volts onto the main terminal of the starter (and the black lead of the meter to earth of course) and get a volt reading whilst cranking (with the coil disconnected so it WON'T start ) The voltage at the starter, when cranking, should be at least 10 volts, any less means there IS a bad connection on the heavy cables somewhere.

btw, have you got a volts reading off the battery whilst cranking ? (if so what is it ?)

Or DIY

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.p ... -tranny%29" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Starters vary, but not by much.