Evening all,

Just hooked up a few more wires and tried to turn the engine over. Starter motor just whizzes, does not seem to throw and engage on the flyweel.
It sounds just like an electric motor (yes yes I know it is one) but just spins really fast and that's it. Battery charged I'm sure so I put on a booster pack and that made no difference.

Any suggestions or is it a lazy starter??

I'm in the garage now, and don't want to go back inside as SWMBO is probably watch dancing or jungle rubbish :-(

Thanks

Andy

needs a clump with a hammer
most likely stuck from lack of use

I tried to wack it and seemed to make no difference, do I whack it hard on the body or the solenoid bit?? Might have to wack it harder..... (might have to re phrase that)

How have you wired it? The motor should not spin till the solenoid has clunked the gear into place. It then makes contact to start the motor spinning. here have you attached the smaller wire from the ignition switch?

Presuming it's a pre-engage starter then the fact that it is spinning means that the solenoid is throwing out as the contacts for the motor are not made until the solenoid is at the end of it's travel.

Sounds like the one way clutch in the drive is knackered or the pinion isn't throwing far enough to mesh with the ring gear.

Need to take the starter out and function it on the bench and measure up to make sure the throw mates up properly with the ring gear.

Davie

Dusty, I'm sure its wired right, there was a post on here recently showing right way and that's how I have done it, live from battery to big terminal and switched live from ignition to smaller terminal.

Davie P I think I will take starter off and bench test. Is there a right way to do this as don't want to blow it or myself up!!

Andy

Hi mate

I suspect you have simply wired the starter live to the wrong terminal. on the starter you should have a main live (from battery) then a link across to the starter spin. But this is not how you energise a starter. Somewhere you have a spede terminal (or a small ring connector) this is how you energise it. putting current down the "spin" terminal will cause it to run but not engage. please take another look and make sure it is wired properly, no amount of hitting with a hammer will fix a wiring issue!

Phil

Please read that as SPADE and not spede

what starter is it you are using ? the silvertop zetec requires the starter from the Sierra DOHC if using the standard Pinto one a 14mm spacer has to be used due to the length of the shaft. not sure whether the blacktop is the same. If this is the case the starter will spin as it wont engage with the flywheel

Make sure the starter is held securely in a vice.

Using a set of jump leads put the earth on the vice or a mounting lug on the starter

The positive needs to go on to the terminal marked "main voltage"

Nothing should happen at this point.

To operate the starter use a small piece of wire to jump between the the "main voltage" and the "starter trigger" terminal.



Try to turn the starter drive both ways, it should freewheel one way and be locked the other, when you see it spinning you can work out which way it should be locked.

The other terminal in the picture should be connected to the starter by a small heavy cable, if you want to function the solenoid without the motor spinning then disconnet this wire.

Davie

Thanks for all the reply's I will try a bench test when I have taken starter out, won't have time now till Friday probably, will post back the results. Thanks again.

Andy

Had the same problem last week see my post from then,hope it helps

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=162828

battery.....

Its a lucas lrs707 (from memory)as fitted to a dohc 2.0 sierra.

It was last tested around a year ago and started a 2.0 with good compresion fine. Id didnt seem as fast as my other motor but worked fine non the less.

Its either a wiring fault or a combiantion fault ie there have been casses of some starters not reaching the teeth of some flywheels.

A) check the wiring

B) pull the motor and check the throw out of the pinion against the depth of the teeth on the flywheel (from the starter flange).

Hi guys,

Just an update to let you know I have got it sorted. Wiring was ok, battery was ok, so the problem was??

On the spare terminal there is a braided wire going into the motor body. The nut that holds on the terminal was loose and therefore no contact. Tightened that up and wooo hooo the motor spins!!

Thanks for all the replies the other night and thanks to daviep I bench tested and that's how I noticed the loose nut!!

Cheers chaps.

On with wiring in the ecu :-/

Andy