Help with starter motor

[soulman123]

Hi all,

So still intermittently having starting issues with my 1.8 04 petrol focus. Very on and off really but a sign of impending starter motor failure. I figure may as well sort it before it leaves me stranded.

I wonder when my t'stat housing was leaking if it got in to the starter and helped it along its way. 

Are there any guides on changing the starter ? Or tips, the Haynes manual says very little. 

Access looks awkward from the top, maybe moving the air pipe would help. But I would assume access from from the bottom is the way to go ? 

Thanks

[Tdci-Peter]

1 hour ago, soulman123 said:

But I would assume access from from the bottom is the way to go ? 

Hi,

I have not seen the petrol engine starter, but these items are usually best accessed from underneath.

Mine was fairly easy, just 3 bolts, and the cables. I could not easily get at the cable connections on the motor in situ, but there was a joint in the cable so I could take the motor off complete with its cables.

My motor was fine, it was the solenoid that was bad, I could tell this from that it sometimes ran very sloooowly & stopped before the engine fired, then if I tried again a couple of times, it got going ok. So it was a bad connection, at the solenoid contact. I verified this with a spare car battery once off the car. Note: Clamp the motor firmly if you want to test it, it could jump about otherwise! And hold the test cable firmly, even the solenoid takes some 60 amps or so to pull in. Also do not run it for more than a second or two unloaded, it could overspeed.

I just replaced the solenoid, £21 though it took a Lot of hunting to find one. Worked fine since.

Peter.