Car Mechanicing Question

[Hugh Manatee]

I am not a born engineer! However, I was recently quoted £800 plus VAT by a main dealer to supply and fit a starter motor on our second car. This struck me as excessive so I thought, "How hard can it be?"
Not overly was the answer. Yes the bolts were very tight but, a length of 30mm box bodged as an extender bar sorted them. The other connections were awkward as well but gave up in the end.

Now all I have to to is fit the replacement. Is there anything I need to do? Does anything need oiling or can I just slam it in there?

TIA.

 

[Electric_Andy]

this might help

https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/a5837/how-to-replace-a-cars-starter-motor/

 

[Profpointy]

I am not a born engineer! However, I was recently quoted £800 plus VAT by a main dealer to supply and fit a starter motor on our second car. This struck me as excessive so I thought, "How hard can it be?"
Not overly was the answer. Yes the bolts were very tight but, a length of 30mm box bodged as an extender bar sorted them. The other connections were awkward as well but gave up in the end.

Now all I have to to is fit the replacement. Is there anything I need to do? Does anything need oiling or can I just slam it in there?

TIA.

In my experience, admittedly with older cars, you just whack it on and do the bolts up. £800 does sound an awful lot, assuming it ain't a ferrari and you don't have to take the engine out or anything daft. What's the part cost - under £200 i guess, and a lot less for a recon one I imagine.

In the 80s I paid £12 for a starter for my cortina and fitted it in 10 minutes

 

[Hugh Manatee]

I paid £80 for a recon one. It has the same guarantee length as a new one and was about £50 cheaper. I got embarrassed having to keep popping the bonnet and giving it a crack with a hammer!

I don't know cars but knew that was a crazy quote. Once jacked up on to stands, access is pretty fair.

 

[Tim Hall]

I paid £80 for a recon one. It has the same guarantee length as a new one and was about £50 cheaper. I got embarrassed having to keep popping the bonnet and giving it a crack with a hammer!

I don't know cars but knew that was a crazy quote. Once jacked up on to stands, access is pretty fair.

The Haynes Book of Lies manual for your particular car should have some pointers.

 

[Tim Hall]

[QUOTE 5252270, member: 259"]There's a particluarly unpleasant corner in hell waiting for the editor of the Mini 1000 one from the early eighties.[/QUOTE]
I had a Peugeot 309 once which needed a new timing belt fitting. To do this I had to lock the engine in TDC, by inserting a suitable rod into a hole in the flywheel cover. After 30 minutes of fruitless searching for the hole on the rear side of the engine, as directed by the HBoL, I found it on the front side.

 

[Hugh Manatee]

The Haynes Book of Lies manual for your particular car should have some pointers.

I think it was those books that put me off the whole mechanic thing. You would have to do something fairly simple and the index would direct you to Page 42. Great, you would think, just the one page! I'll be done in no time. Turn to page 42 and the section you wanted was only a paragraph with just the three steps in it:

1. Remove engine and gearbox as described in chapters 1 through 7.
2. Replace oil trunnion axis grubscrew with a flat screwdriver.
3. Refit engine and gearbox by reversing chapters 7 through 1.

 

[I like Skol]

Things to consider!
Don't buy a cheap recon replacement, or prepare to do it all again, in more than 12 months if you are lucky/unlucky!
Make sure you disconnect the battery before doing anything! The starter motor has an unfused permanent live connection so you can do a lot of expensive damage if you are lucky. If you are unlucky you may burn out your car, garage, house and bikes!
800 quid does sound like opportunistic money making, but these things can be torturously tricky to remove on some vehicles. That doesn't mean this is the case on your car though.

 

[Profpointy]

Things to consider!
Don't buy a cheap recon replacement, or prepare to do it all again, in more than 12 months if you are lucky/unlucky!
Make sure you disconnect the battery before doing anything! The starter motor has an unfused permanent live connection so you can do a lot of expensive damage if you are lucky. If you are unlucky you may burn out your car, garage, house and bikes!
800 quid does sound like opportunistic money making, but these things can be torturously tricky to remove on some vehicles. That doesn't mean this is the case on your car though.

Re "cheap recon": The original factory gearbox on my cortina laster about 47000 miles (then jumping out of gear - worn forks). Replaced it with the absolute cheapest recon I could get ( <£50 in 1980 something IIRC). Lasted another 45-50,000 miles just like the brand new one. I assembled the 3rd one out of two worn ones, and that lasted till the end of the car (less than another 50k miles but long enough)

Something like a starter likely only has about 3 things on it which wear out, so you just replace the brushes and maybe the cog on the end then stick on the shelf to sell.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Haynes manuals are not a patch on what they used to be. Back in time they used to strip the car themselves so they gave an accurate description of how things came apart and went back together. Now you wonder if they've even bothered to open the bonnet.

 

[Pale Rider]

I am not a born engineer! However, I was recently quoted £800 plus VAT by a main dealer to supply and fit a starter motor on our second car. This struck me as excessive so I thought, "How hard can it be?"
Not overly was the answer. Yes the bolts were very tight but, a length of 30mm box bodged as an extender bar sorted them. The other connections were awkward as well but gave up in the end.

Now all I have to to is fit the replacement. Is there anything I need to do? Does anything need oiling or can I just slam it in there?

TIA.

We used to put a squirt of Redex on the pinion before fitting.

Any thick-ish oil will do.

Also worth twisting the end by hand a couple of times to make sure the engagement mechanism is not sticking.

 

[Drago]

It's usually an easy enough job, with access sometimes being the hardest part. Get a decent motor with a decent warranty.

What sort of car is it?

 

[Hugh Manatee]

Thanks All. It is in:

That's it with the red sticker on it. I have even tested it. It sounds completely different. I reckon the old one hadn't been giving its best for some time.

You can see it is right at the front of the engine. The only part I had to remove to get better access was the fuse box lid!
£800 to undo two 14mm bolts, one 12mm nut holding some electrical whatchamaflip and one pull off spade connector for a smaller electrical thing. I suppose they had to then do all that lot back up as well as supply the part.
I love this car. That's the third successful foray into mechanics. This is unprecedented!

 

[Hugh Manatee]

Note: I have done the dealer a disservice. I don't know where I go £800 from. The good lady has just informed me it was actually £580 plus vat.

 

[Smokin Joe]

That's still £696.

Ridiculous price for a job that would take no time at all for a skilled mechanic with the car on a ramp.