Club 80-90 Forums

Bit stumped here,
after replacing the gearbox I cannot get the starter motor to do more than click,
if I have the headlights on while I do that they are bright and dim to nothing suddenly when the starter motor clicks,
staying off, though I dont want to hold the key in start position for longer than a second in case something is shorting out.
No smells or anything else untoward..
The connections seem fine, good battery terminals, good charge, earth strap to gearbox, live to starter and on to alternator,
there are two wires connected to spade terminal on starter, there are no other terminals on starter.
Engine turns freely, I have loosened starter to check its not jammed in some way and replaced it.
Do I have to take the starter completely off and power it up on a bench now, see if that works,
could it be a relay, or perhaps only one of the wires were supposed to go to the spade on the starter?
What can I do experimentally to check this out?
Thanks

Its a South African Caravelle '89 Syncro ex WBX with an RJES conversion to EJ22 Subaru. Engine Number 206339

Hello,

have you checked the braided cable from the solenoid to the starter? I think that's prone to wearing thin or even earthing mistakenly. Not sure with the subaru bellhousing, but others have a brass sleeve which can go bad and needs replacing. Probably a good test to remove the starter motor entirely and test it out of the bellhousing to be honest. If the lights are dimming it would suggest either an internal earth fault - bit old school but have you hit it with a hammer?

Ewen

Thanks for the helpful reply,
I'm going to the workshop now to check out the ideas..
Old school was good wasnt it!
Back in the day there was two terminals and if it came to it you could short them out and off it went,
and as you say, usually if there was a problem inside, a tap would free it up.
This Subaru starter is different, and I strongly suspect that it is fine anyway.
The problem is in the removal and replacement somethings amiss..

My mate who is most definitely old school said " have you tried pressing the button on the side"!
Long time since I had a starter with its own starter button..

Hello,

sorry - I think I was being a bit dim and didn't realise it was a subaru starter. Hope you sort it out -

Ewen

Took the starter off and connected it straight up to the battery,
fed another live to the smaller terminal that runs to the ignition/starter switch key,
and at first nothing, but after a couple more touches it started spinning.

Put it back together and whoopee!!! Vrhroooom....

None the wiser really, but thats what happened, hope it helps anyone else.
Also hope it keeps on spinning!