starter motor failure modes?

[kamineko]

\'96 BG5 200thou kms

so it seemed that my battery was flat - starter motor turned barely enough to start the car, then not enough, then less, then not at all. now just one click with the key turned

car will roll-start, but i cannot jump start with another running car - either parallel to my battery or replacing it.

just the same one click sound - maybe this is the starter engagement onto the flywheel, barely, then no drive from the starter motor?

can i assume the starter motor has failed? bushes gone?

cheers

[B4_685]

Sounds like brushes - click is solenoid but with no contact to rotor, wouldnt turn over..

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[Joker]

yup give it a tap, clears the dust and get you going temporarily, brushes are different to bushes : i can never remember which is which

time for a rebuild of the starter

[Roo]

Single click from the starter motor is solenoid. Brushes there\'s no noise at all.

Solenoid contacts/plunger are a very common thing to wear on our denso starters.

[nztintin]

same thing just happened to my ra on the dyno of all places, was just brushes i think, was a 5 min fix (not done by me)

[B4_685]

Quick way to test starter solenoid is to use a screwdriver and short across it (make sure car is in neutral!) from batt terminal on solenoid to starter terminal altho its pretty hard to get to in the subie....plenty of sparks and stater will come to life if brushes are ok. If brushes kaput, nothing will happen - check grounding wires for shits-n-giggles

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[boon]

Easy to diagnose if you have a current clamp... if its bung brushes it will draw nil current, if its a shorted winding it\'ll pull like 200A

[kamineko]

yeah i meant to type brushes, not bushes. my bad

just didn\'t want to pull off the TT intercooler in the rain to find the starter was OK

will swap it out tomorrow

cheers

[ryn]

Was gonna say you can use my garage if you need to Nick.

[B4_685]

 kamineko said:

yeah i meant to type brushes, not bushes. my bad

just didn\'t want to pull off the TT intercooler in the rain to find the starter was OK

will swap it out tomorrow

cheers

I haven\'t been brave enough to remove said top mount intercooler lol

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[kamineko]

derp. my spare impreza starter motors are too large to fit next to the primary turbo

pulled the TT one apart, the brushes where all gunked up. cleaned everything and now works perfectly ;D

eww that\'s dirty~

[Roo]

Needs new brushes mate

[kamineko]

yeah, ideally. there was a few mm of brush left and I just stretched the springs. works for the moment and now I understand how the starter works

[Roo]

Yeah good work, but if they get too worn it wil blow holes in the armature = $$

funny to see it has a planetary gear starter too I made my previous assumptions based on it being a reduction drive starter

[Joker]

 Roo said:

Needs new brushes mate

and welcome to the world of TT\'s everything is different

nope Impreza starter not fit ONLY another tt starter : as you found, gotta clear second (primary) turbo

[Roo]

Yeah those brush plates are cheap as chips though. Worth doing if you\'re gonna keep it as a spare.

[kamineko]

sounds like a plan. my cars are always being pulled apart, and I do naff-all kilometres. next time its in bits I\'ll refresh it. then again, it\'ll probably be getting a single conversion and I can use my impreza starter instead

[Roo]

Haha could be an idea, the impreza starters are bloody efficient wee starters and hardly ever give trouble. I had mine apart a couple months ago (almost 200k) and it looked almost new.

[B4_685]

Wow cool pics - didnt realize there were planetary gears inside either what did you regrease with?

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