Club 80-90 Forums

The starter on my 1.9 DF is starting to get a bit lazy first thing in the morning and tbh always has been just more noticable now the weathers cooled down the van is used daily so i was wondering whether its a diy job to refurb that i could do in a day ie remove refirb and refit on a sunday or would i just be better off getting a replacement so that i can bolt off bolt on. Its defo the starter as i put a brand new heavy duty battery on the van back in june when i got her

If any of you nice people have a good second hand starter for a DF engine please let me know.

Thanx

Try cleaning up the connections, my van was a bit slow, replaced the geearbox over the past few days and gave the terminals a clean up now turns over like a modern car.

Yeah done that thanx Damien its usually the first turn of the key when its slow if i let go of the key and retry it it starts fine, its just a bit sticky first thing on a cold morning.

Good clean connections and battery terminals are an absolute must. Current cannot flow otherwise and its a large current for a very short time when you use the starter. The other common problem on a starter is a dirty commutator, take the starter off and give the comm a clean with some fine emery to remove the carbon deposits left by the brushes and it will spin much quicker.

Cafnod wrote:Good clean connections and battery terminals are an absolute must. Current cannot flow otherwise and its a large current for a very short time when you use the starter. The other common problem on a starter is a dirty commutator, take the starter off and give the comm a clean with some fine emery to remove the carbon deposits left by the brushes and it will spin much quicker.

I suppose that for the hour that it takes to remove i may aswell remove it give it a good clean refit and see if its improved at all before shelling out on a replacement unit, thanx for the input guys

No probs, and remember its a win win situation, the terminals need cleaning and sorting, and if you do all that and put a slightly u/s motor back on you know you have done what needed doing and that the starter is defo the problem, and you will do the job of replacing quicker and easier with the new unit.

I have done a few of these and sometimes you get good results just replacing the brushes but on current van I found the copper contacts (the bit the carbon brushes touch - i cant remember the correct term for some reason ) to be worn and it just chewed up the brushes again. But since its easy to take the bottom off and check its worth a try.

Once removed, the 2 screws/bolts on the non geared end can be removed and then the end comes of revealing the brush assembly. be careful as it may all spring apart.


Failing that a fully remanufactured one from GSF was only £86 with 1 year warranty

cheers

have you tried asking in the wanted forum btw i had one refurbished recently.cost £45...

If any of you nice people have a good second hand starter for a DF engine please let me know.

sciroccotune wrote:I have done a few of these and sometimes you get good results just replacing the brushes but on current van I found the copper contacts (the bit the carbon brushes touch - i cant remember the correct term for some reason ) to be worn and it just chewed up the brushes again. But since its easy to take the bottom off and check its worth a try.

Once removed, the 2 screws/bolts on the non geared end can be removed and then the end comes of revealing the brush assembly. be careful as it may all spring apart.


Failing that a fully remanufactured one from GSF was only £86 with 1 year warranty

cheers

The bit you are talking about is the commutator, the bit I said needed cleaning. They can be cleaned in a lathe very quickly and easy if the comm is worn, just skim them, and if nic recut.

Thanx for the info guys i'll get it stripped, cleaned refitted tomorrow and let you know how she goes

Hope it goes well.

check the "bush" my old starter was old and knackered a new starter sorted it out but the new bush sooned started the same as the old, it turns really slow first of all and then speeds up and starts
okay.

there is a wiki here about replacing the £1 bush