Starter Motor Issues.

[davemar 16]

I'm seem to replace starter motors far too often. My current one has been playing up for a couple of months now. The symptoms are that the solenoid appears to be doing its stuff, as I get the jolting sounds, but the starter clunks rather than spins up. Another side-effect is that the central locking goes berzerk when I try starting. Now this could be a problem with the supply to the central locking controller (after-market thing*), but I suspect the starter motor is drawing far more current than it ought to and is pulling the battery voltage so low it's affecting the central locking. Also my battery often feels rather feeble, so maybe it's taking more punishment than normal.

 

In the past my starters always failed with the solenoid giving up, but I've never had this type of fail. The motor isn't very old (1 year or so, not much good either), so it's a bit crap. Has anyone tried dismantling a motor, and swapping solenoids? I think I might have a spare motor with a duff solenoid, so I might attempt something there. I'm loathed to buy another starter motor.

 

*It's a central-locking controller I designed and built myself, so it should never fail

[large 33]

What is your charging voltage? Also what starter is it? Old fat body type or a newer slim one.

 

Also have you checked/ replaced the wiring to the starter also the earth.

[davemar 16]

The battery voltage dropped about 7 volts when trying to start, so it's drawing lots of current. It sounds like a machine gun firing. The wiring seems OK, and the voltage drop across the wire to the starter was barely measurable on my meter, so that suggests a good connection.

 

I think it's a fat body type, not that I've seen any other size, but can't imagine it being any larger. It's a Lucas recon unit, so I would hope decent enough quality. Which ones are more reliable, the fat or slim?

 

I thought I had a spare motor, but haven't so no point trying to do a recon myself.

[Anthony 1,003]

Are you sure that it's not a battery problem, as the "machine gun firing" sound from the solenoid is what you tend to get when the battery doesn't have enough charge or has dropped a cell in my experience, rather than a dying starter.

 

That said, the "fat" bodied original starter motors are useless frankly, and it's got to the point now that even reconditioned ones I won't even keep as spares as they just seem to cause problems. I use the later Valeo or Bosch slim bodied starters (sometimes refered to as XU10 starters) and have never really had any issues with them at all.

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

To add,

 

I've only recently had this, well apart from a failed starter about 10 years ago. I'm using the recommended slim bodied starter and have had similar issues to you ie. sometimes starts sometimes does not.

Question?

Is your starter motor immobilised?

 

I found since fitting the Toad alarm/immobiliser that it's caused the starter to not always work. Theory being that you have thick cable for the starter then running through the immobiliser (small cables etc and relay) and therefore you're not always getting enough current through.

 

Answer:

Take the starter motor off the immobiliser circuit.

 

Since I've done that I've not had to ask for anymore embarrasing push starts from wife, passers by, B&Q staff, petrol stations and the kind gentleman who push started us off a Brittany Ferry at christmas!

[davemar 16]

I used to have a weak current problem with the solenoid, but now I've got a relay nearby so it can get a decent flow. The machine gunning noise was a lot louder than the solenoid clicking. More bang, bang, bang than click, click, click.

 

I've ordered a new starter, hopefully it's a slim one.

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

The problem with the starters is when reconed they work on the bench so basically get sprayed up and sent out again to cause issues, But Igintion Barrel, Wiring etc can all cause a high resistance to the starter,

 

But again the slim body late type as fitted to 306 and 406's etc very rarely give any issues at all.

[Anthony 1,003]

I've ordered a new starter, hopefully it's a slim one.

If you didn't already, specify it for a 306 1.8/2.0 16v (1997 onwards) and that will be a slim bodied starter, although you'll need to swap the solenoid wire from a spade to a ring terminal as all the later starter motors were like this.

 

If you order a 205/309 GTi starter, there's a fair chance that it will be the fat original type unless you get lucky.

[davemar 16]

The new motor just arrived (that was quick) and it does appear to be a slim one with the ring terminal connection. So hopefully this one will be more reliable!

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

Not if you goto GSF, I've known them to supply the large body ones for the 306 etc

[welshpug 1,657]

No issues here with Fat bodied Hella remanufactured starter motor, but I have replaced the full length of wire from starter to under-dash plugs (with decent gauge wire, twice as thick as the original)

 

And the ignition switch is recent.

[davemar 16]

I fitted the new starter and it worked fine, and no interfering with the central locking. Hopefully that's all sorted.

 

I can now go and get some petrol as I was putting that off as I didn't fancy having to push the car out of the petrol station. They never have petrol stations on slopes so I can get a rolling start!

[lemmingzappa 75 1 Cars]

Sorry I know this is unrelated but does anyone else notice that certain starters have a really nice sound

 

The newest one I have on my car is from a 306 so i've been told, and it just have a satisfying whine when starting the car

[C_W 3 1 Cars]

My car sounded like that! it's a Mitsubishi one from memory. From a 306TD. It started really fast with a whine. This starter gave me no problems at all for years, after messing about the old clicking ones.

 

But most of it is down to the +ve from the ignition barrel not being enough power I reckon. Easiest test is to quickly test a wire from the battery +ve to the solenoid and try that first, 9/10 they start fine IME.