Pro tip: Don't take a starter fully apart (& how to fix a grind)
01-30-2010, 07:27 AM
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Pro tip: Don't take a starter fully apart (& how to fix a grind)
About a month ago I replaced my PS and Alt belts but, being winter and working alone, I did not get the Alt belt as tight as it needed to be so it began squealing a few days later. Normally I am at school dark-dark and because auto parts stores are only open a few hours on Saturday (when I am usually out enjoying the area) and closed on Sunday, I didn't have a chance to fix it up. Well, after about a month it was just HORRIBLE and I just could not take it any more. I took yesterday morning off to make a repair on that.
The belt replacement went as well as you would expect with a buddy -- 2 or 3 minutes and it was done. I decided that as long as I had my tools out, I may as well fix up some other stuff on my rig.
The starter had been grinding immediately after the motor fired up which I assumed was caused by it not disengaging quickly enough and over spinning from the motor. I thought maybe if I replaced the 12 year old, 212k mile grease in there it just might be cured, saving me the 60 bucks that I really don't want to sink in to that vehicle since I plan to swap the motor some time in the future and drive that thing until I finish my PhD.
In less than 10 minutes I had the starter out and on the counter in side. It came apart very easily -- two 8mm bolts and a few taps with the mallet. Inside there is a planetary gear set that was incredibly dirty and spun very poorly. I took everything out (very simple), cleaned, re-greased, and reassembled. At this point I could have put the solenoid back on the gear set and been done with the whole gig but since it was going so well, and because I was curious, I decided to pop the solenoid out to see what it looked like inside and to try confirm if it worked like I figured it did.
Popped that out but just flipping it over and taping the back of it. Sure enough, very simple solenoid, exactly what I expected. Okay, time to put it back together...
It won't go! The solenoid actuator will not fall back in to the housing. I look at it for a bit and realized that there are four spring-tensioned tabs at the bottom of the housing that must be retracted for the actuator to go back in. This makes sense though as it would force the actuator to be in a forward position when engaged and a current could retract them. Problem? There is no good way to access them to manually retract them.
After tinkering with it for a bit I decided to try super glue. I thought if I glued the springs shut and then whacked it they would be come free. The glue held and I put it back in but it wouldn't crank so I had to pull it back out and inspect. As it turned out, super glue worked way better than I thought and the tabs were stuck in. I tried hitting them, scraping them, etc. and 2 of 4 would not budge. I decided to try an acetone soak ala nail polish remover a buddies live-in girlfriend had but even this did not do the trick. I decided at this point that I have no choice but to use a torch and melt the glue so I fire it up and melt away. Sure enough that does the trick, they all free up. But how will I hold them down now?
Well, that turned out to be pretty tricky but it ultimately was myself and three of my friends carefully holding down each tab with an skinny allen. Another friend dropped the solenoid in and there turned out to be enough clearance. Voila! Done.
Popped the sucker back in my car and, like magic, the grind was gone. It sounds smoother than it ever did.
So, the moral of the story is this: If your starter grinds, pull it and clean the planetary gear set but DO NOT allow the actuator to come out of the solenoid housing.
P.S. If you're wondering why I didn't just go to a junk yard when **** started to hit the fan, I did. I asked the guy if he had any imports out back and he said no Hondas, no Acuras, and that he could probably count the number of imports he had on one hand. Not surprising for this area, I suppose..
The belt replacement went as well as you would expect with a buddy -- 2 or 3 minutes and it was done. I decided that as long as I had my tools out, I may as well fix up some other stuff on my rig.
The starter had been grinding immediately after the motor fired up which I assumed was caused by it not disengaging quickly enough and over spinning from the motor. I thought maybe if I replaced the 12 year old, 212k mile grease in there it just might be cured, saving me the 60 bucks that I really don't want to sink in to that vehicle since I plan to swap the motor some time in the future and drive that thing until I finish my PhD.
In less than 10 minutes I had the starter out and on the counter in side. It came apart very easily -- two 8mm bolts and a few taps with the mallet. Inside there is a planetary gear set that was incredibly dirty and spun very poorly. I took everything out (very simple), cleaned, re-greased, and reassembled. At this point I could have put the solenoid back on the gear set and been done with the whole gig but since it was going so well, and because I was curious, I decided to pop the solenoid out to see what it looked like inside and to try confirm if it worked like I figured it did.
Popped that out but just flipping it over and taping the back of it. Sure enough, very simple solenoid, exactly what I expected. Okay, time to put it back together...
It won't go! The solenoid actuator will not fall back in to the housing. I look at it for a bit and realized that there are four spring-tensioned tabs at the bottom of the housing that must be retracted for the actuator to go back in. This makes sense though as it would force the actuator to be in a forward position when engaged and a current could retract them. Problem? There is no good way to access them to manually retract them.
After tinkering with it for a bit I decided to try super glue. I thought if I glued the springs shut and then whacked it they would be come free. The glue held and I put it back in but it wouldn't crank so I had to pull it back out and inspect. As it turned out, super glue worked way better than I thought and the tabs were stuck in. I tried hitting them, scraping them, etc. and 2 of 4 would not budge. I decided to try an acetone soak ala nail polish remover a buddies live-in girlfriend had but even this did not do the trick. I decided at this point that I have no choice but to use a torch and melt the glue so I fire it up and melt away. Sure enough that does the trick, they all free up. But how will I hold them down now?
Well, that turned out to be pretty tricky but it ultimately was myself and three of my friends carefully holding down each tab with an skinny allen. Another friend dropped the solenoid in and there turned out to be enough clearance. Voila! Done.
Popped the sucker back in my car and, like magic, the grind was gone. It sounds smoother than it ever did.
So, the moral of the story is this: If your starter grinds, pull it and clean the planetary gear set but DO NOT allow the actuator to come out of the solenoid housing.
P.S. If you're wondering why I didn't just go to a junk yard when **** started to hit the fan, I did. I asked the guy if he had any imports out back and he said no Hondas, no Acuras, and that he could probably count the number of imports he had on one hand. Not surprising for this area, I suppose..
01-30-2010, 07:42 AM
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Re: Pro tip: Don't take a starter fully apart (& how to fix a grind)
Daaayyyyuuummmm I can dig a phd hahahaha.....smart *** lol....Sucess comes happiness....when u done with that phd u can jus hired someone to do all that crap lol...
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