Bugger!!! Snapped the starter terminal on the solenoid. MD5b.

[Tintin]

Do you have those days? When you do a small routine simple job and by accident you cause a bigger problem?

Today while changing my fuel filter I managed to snap the spade terminal for the starter motor solenoid. I can't see any obvious proper solution other than stripping the solenoid becayse the terminal is rivetted on. I'm not to happy with my "get me home" repair of soldering the wire onto the top of the rivet.

Is there another way?

 

[VicMallows]

Sounds like you are very lucky to have the rivet accessibly to solder to. I would take it home and make a good job of soldering on a VERY flexible cable using a hefty soldering iron and then improvise a decent strain relief. I certainly wouldn't attempt to solder on a new 'tag terminal' to try to make it seem like the original.

 

[charles_reed]

You have my sympathy, but no solution. In my case the female of the solenoid energising wire just falls off the spade on the solenoid.
And that's on a 3-year-old engine.
The problem is that I can't get a hand in without taking the ancillaries off the front of the engine, and when, with great difficulty, I do get a hand in, sight is totally obscured. There's certainly no room to get a soldering iron in.
The problem does make one's ability to manoeuvre anchor & moor under sail most significantly important.
If you can get it off, short of a new starter unit (because the solenoid is integral), the only solution is to firmly solder on a wire with a male spade to take the old female connection.

 

[Tintin]

Access was v tight but i have a small lighter gas powered soldering iron, and the engine bay LED lighting i installed recently helped; as did a mirror.

Question: will i break anything if i undo the bolts that seem to hokd it on to the starter? Never messed wuth this stuff before, not even as a yoof on cars if dubious ability to perform.

 

[charles_reed]

Lucky you if the solenoid is bolt-on. If you are looking at fixing bolts rather than the terminal bolts.
Theoretically the solenoid is only an electrically operated switch and apart from the big wire into the starter motor can be quite safely removed, providing you disconnect the battery supply to it. That might make you LED lights inoperative.
I'd hesitate to try and do an in situ job, the solenoid is a mass of winding and overheating that could leave you needing to replace the unit. The soldering needs to be done under very controlled conditions and very precisely or you'll be in the same situation as me. Intermittent (at the most inconvenient times) failure.

 

[reeac]

I don't have specific knowledge of this setup but I once managed to make a butt solder joint onto a spade terminal which had snapped off flush with the top of a small [12Ah.] battery. The secret was plenty of flux over the area first so as to get a good tinned surface on the broken edge. Once you have that the rest is easy. You do, of course, then need good cable strain relief so that the new joint doesn't see any mechanical loads.

 

[Graham_Wright]

It might be easier to remove the whole starter motor;- generally only two bolts.

 

[parbuckle]

Since I learnt my Perkins Perama starter is same as fitted on some old cars and can be picked up for £50 I keep a unit as a spare but it is extremely difficult to fit unless you have good access,one of the fixings is an allen bolt hidden away so you need a special allen key socket also a long extension ,I doubt one could fit this at sea unless dead calm but that is probably when one might need to.

 

[pampas]

Better to remove and have a new end cap fitted.

 

[lw395]

Better to remove and have a new end cap fitted.

Probably.
I don't know that particular starter motor, depends how it comes apart and what spares are available.
You might be able to replace the rivet that hold the terminal on with a small stud and use a ring terminal or bolt a new spade terminal on.

It's worth knowing that the starter motor will usually work if you can short across the two solenoid terminals with a hefty bit of metal. Some starters just spin without engaging though.

 

[Stemar]

Obviously, I don't know your setup, but most starters are held on with a couple or 3 bolts, of accessibility ranging from No Problem to Not to be Attempted Within Earshot of Persons of a Sensitive Disposition.

If your access is towards the easier end of the scale, I'd be tempted to take the starter off (do take the + terminal off your battery first, or fireworks will ensue ) and take it to an auto electrician, who may have a relatively cheap and easy solution.

If not, with the starter in a vice and good lighting, you'll have a far better chance of a good repair, which, if I were doing it, would probably involve a wire tail 6" or so long soldered in place, with a male spade connection to take the existing lead. This allows you to connect & disconnect it without straining your soldered repair. Just make sure the connection is kept out of the bilges - salt water does all sorts of interesting things to electrical connections!

Good luck!