25 replies to this topic

[mini123]

everytime i turn the key all here is a click..thats all

i read another thread and the guy mentioned that his kept clicking, mine only clicks once

someone adviced him the hit the starter motor with a hammer, is that safe?

also im not sure where the starter motor is....

could anybody help

[liirge]

yer give it a whack, its a pretty standard repair procedure on the Starter motors, that and shorting your solenoid incased its siezed

[mini_mad69]

Usualy a dead battery. Its unlikely that its siezed up but the easiest way to see if its siezed is to put the car in 4th and rock it back and forth. Try jump starting the car. Oh and the starter motor is on the front of the engine. When looking at the engine from the front of the car its on the lower left. A cylindrical metal case. with a fat wire going to it.

[liirge]

Solenoids do stick though..that could do with a whack!
Yer i agree with the 4th and rocking move, i thought about that after posting, often a safer route if you arent confident enough to whack such a component

[mini123]

yea i might end up breaking the whole thing if i smack it :S

erm, so would i have to have my clutch down when rocking the car back and forward in 4th gear?
also how many times would do it before trying to start the engine again?
ive never heard of this method

[liirge]

No no clutch the whole point is that your moving the the flywheel\crank and to do this the car needs to be in gear..so your moving the engine with the wheels, instead of moving the wheels with the engine!

[mini123]

ah i see, but then how do i know if its worked? should it free the starter motor and solenoid?

[mini123]

is it the yellow thing at the bottom that im supposed to hit?

also where is the solenoid?

[liirge]

Yer rock it a few times, then try and start the car.

[mini123]

ok cool, il go do it then let you know how it went

[dklawson]

Yes, the "yellow" thing appears to be an inertia starter. With inertia starters "whacking" them with a hammer isn't always necessary. They have a small extension of their internal shaft that pokes out (to the right as you stand looking at the engine). That small bit of shaft has a square profile so you can put a wrench on it and give it a turn. Try that first before using a hammer.

Rocking the car works if the Bendix unit of the starter is stuck in the flywheel ring gear. Whacking the starter can help to un-seat a stuck solenoid on an pre-engaged starter (later type... not this type). Sometimes whacking an inertia starter will help to shake the motor brushes loose... but save this for later. Turning the square shaft on an inertia starter will hopefully move a clean spot on the commutator under the brushes.

However, the real issue you've got here is a single "click" from the starter system. There are several ways to determine whether the problem is the solenoid. Since you were unfamiliar with what the starter motor looked like, I'm going to suggest what may be the safest test method but not the easiest method. Follow the big wire back from the starter motor and find the solenoid. The solenoid will have two big cables on it (one from the battery and the one going to the starter motor). Take a set of jumper cables and connect one end of the black jumper cable lead to the big cable terminal on the starter motor. Make sure the bare metal on the jumper cable clamp is NOT touching earth... only the metal post on the starter motor. Look at the solenoid and take the other end of the black jumper cable lead and CAREFULLY touch it to the solenoid terminal coming FROM THE BATTERY (not the one going to the starter motor).

When you make this second connection you are bypassing the solenoid. Power from the battery will be routed to the starter motor via the black jumper cable lead. The starter motor should spin up to speed. That's why it is imperative that you place the gear selector in neutral. IF the starter spins up to speed when you do this, your starter motor is fine. If the starter does not spin and all you get is a big, fat spark when you touch the cable to the solenoid terminal... the starter is bound up for one reason or another and is not working properly.

[liirge]

DK, i completely forgot about the little extension thing,
Im not with it today, little bit to much of the old grog i fear last night!

[mini123]

http://s147.photobuc...nt=SV_A0179.flv

this is what it keeps doing

ive rocked the car in 4th gear, nothing has changed.

i did see a thing sticking out of the motor, how much do i turn it?

[mini123]

i turned the shaft thingy on the starter motor quite a few times but the engine was still doing the same thing

i also did that thing with the wires, and well i got a big fat spark

does this mean my starter motor has gone?

the car has been sat for over 2 weeks doing nothing.....but 2days ago when i managed to start it like with some easy engine start spray

where is earth strap? i read that its located under the clutch master clylinder, is that correct?

this problem only started after i bled my clutch cylinder? could i have moved something?

[Pauly]

I would change/charge the battery first, even though theres life in the battery there might not be enough to turn the engine over.

Paul.