Starter Motor Repair

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ccruiser

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My starter motor seems to have packed up - just spins and doesn't engage with the engine - so I'm looking for recommendations on where I could have it repaired. Are there any affordable options in the east Midlands, or perhaps someone who offers repairs by post?

From what I can see on the casing, it looks like it's a Lucas M45 G. It stopped working when we tried it after setting up over winter. It'd come in contact with salt water a few months earlier, so we assumed it rusted up. We had a go at cleaning it, but that doesn't seem to have helped at all.

Thanks for any advice :)
 
Possibly a solenoid issue.

You may well be able to ask around at car repairers to get the name of a specialist (car, but a motor is a motor) firm. Has to be cheaper than anywhere labelled 'marine'.
 
Why do folk ask the most obvious questions so often when removing a few bolts and dropping into local garage will sort it.
 
hlb said:
Auto electrician, one in every town.
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As stated every town has a guy tucked away,usually in a back street or bit scuzzy industrial unit,who will strip down your old unit (if repairable) and get it up and running again.Probably around a hundred quid or so for most fixes but a fraction of new cost.
Wander around any taxi rank,look for the most disreputable wreck in the que and ask who does his.
Ps, Take along some cash money if you want the best deal,waving a credit card always shouts .. "I am very well off so please charge me as much as you think you can get away with ":)
 
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Turning up in swmbo's elderly Golf and wearing boat-maintenance-clothes can also help.
Probably best to leave the IWC / Patek Philippe at home.
 
Csail said:
Why do folk ask the most obvious questions so often when removing a few bolts and dropping into local garage will sort it.
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I love nice friendly answers. Adds a lot to a thread.

Bet you've known everything since birth! (I'll go else where now for my boat lettering ;))

As to the OP, as others have said, any auto electrician will do and be far cheaper than a marine electrician. You remind me that I have one off a Yanmar that I need to have a look at!

Good luck.
 
As above, take to an auto electrician

A garage will only sell you a new one even if they do that .. probably not if its not off a car.

When you get it off look at the mechanical gubbins that moves the pinion into engagement with the ring gear.. Very probably will be obvious what needs cleaning up.

Solenoid I guess will be OK if it spins but check it moves a fully as it should.
 
were all assuming you have a fully charged battery.if not retest when charged.make sure earth to engine is goood and also connections to starter and if these dont prove successful,remove.it maybe just the bendix is stuck on the shaft as it should fly forward quickly as motor spins.retest off the boat and a replacement can be had off ebay for about a £100 or look in the yellow pages for a repairer.
 
OP was asking for specific recommendations in the Midlands, which is a reasonable question imho. People in the trade in that area would know, or they might know who regularly does a good job.

Just dropping it off anywhere is going to have a random chance of having a good result.
 
it maybe just the bendix is stuck on the shaft as it should fly forward quickly as motor spins.
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Its not an inertia type! Its pre-engage type.
No bendix.
Pinion is moved into engagement with the ring gear by an arm operated by the solenoid!

lucas.gif
 
You need to take it off anyway so why not have a go at a repair yourself? If it is just rust on the shaft stopping the gear moving it is fairly easy to fix. Once you have the starter motor off (disconnect live wire at starter battery first) spray some wd40 or similar on the rusty shaft and then get some mole grips and grab them on the gear, then get a screwdriver and lever the mole grip jaws (and gear) up and down until they slide easily, apply some copperslip and reassemble. I do this to my boat starter at least twice a year, takes around 15 minutes :-)
 
Thanks for all the advice!

This is the sort I have (not mine, just a pic of the same type)
detail_142_MA-10007.JPG


We took it off and stripped it as much as we could, cleaning it up with WD40, but we couldn't get the end nut on the shaft off to have a better go at it. Since we'll be taking it off again, most probably, we'll have another go. I'll try bypassing the solenoid just to rule it out.
 
his is the sort I have (not mine, just a pic of the same type)
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Wrong again then :o It is an inertia type with a Bendix!

You need to make sure that if you rotate the pinion gear on the shaft it will run easily down the shaft towards the motor. ( and back again)
I would not have though it necessary to get the nut off the end unless it is very badly corroded
I think that nut may have a left handed thread but is its a long long time since i looked at an inertia starter.
 
Not saying it does. But the nut could have a left handed thread. Depends which way the shaft goes round.

The solenoid appears to be working, as the starter is turning.

When we were manufacturing, we had local firms, who could mend any sort of motor, or get spare parts. All done in a day or two and for little cost. Some times they may have got an exchange unit, but all for a quarter the price of Volsplutter or who ever.
 
As point of interest the VAG range of vehicles have a well known thing with the starter motor screeching away after the car has started.It is dead easy fix with a dab of copperslip fixing the problem.The real problem is getting at the poxy thing and begins when you remove the battery,the battery tray and loads of other bits,however ....ahem bending some bits does help a lot,that only leaves some hidden real difficult to get at bolts....
 
.... without lubrication. Bendices (?) should never, ever be oiled or greased.
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I think on a boat a little light lubrication may be acceptable even desirable to reduce rusting perhaps .

The reason they are not lubricated in cars, I think, is because it would tend to pick up dust from the clutch.
 
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