It lives - again!

[Apache]

Refurbed the starter today. Yes, it was bl00dy cold and yes, hands came in for a bit of a scuffing but it spins like a very spinny thing now Thought I'd photograph it to take away a bit of the fear and mystery, and give people the option of doing it themselves for ~£40 rather than paying a garage ~£150

Here's the service kit from Roughtrax - which apparently will fix nearly all starter woes (and I believe that, having done this job twice now)



The kit will replace the fixed solenoid contacts, and the moving plunger contact, and the associated insulators / fixings etc.

Start the job by disconnecting the positive leads from both batteries. DO NOT skip this step!

Then, as the starter wont come out from the bottom due to torsion bar / various bits of chassis being in the way, you need to remove a few bits from above. Mainly, this is the fuel filter housing. Dont bother disconnecting pipework, its not necessary as there is enough pipework to allow the assembly to sit on the inner wing by the airbox. I also removed the upper part of the ATF dipstick assembly, and a few hose clamps near the bottom of the oil filter. Again, this takes 2 minues and will save you loads of cursing later

Now, working through the wheelarch, undo the main feed to the starter (17mm spanner) and the small solenoid actuator cable at the plastic inline connector just behind the starter.

You should then, after a bit of jiggling, be able to lift the starter out through the top of the engine bay.

Now take it somewhere warm! (my hands were numb, and slightly bl00dy by now!)

Take the back of the solenoid assembly - 3 x 8mm screws - and remove the seal for cleaning. Lift out the plunger. Mine looked like this - which is bad.



Here's the old plunger next to the new one. No prizes etc...



OK, so this is pretty bad - but it has been subject to pretty long periods under water this year!

Clean up the spring off the old plunger as there isn't one in the repair kit (not that you should need one) and fit it to the new plunger - ahhh, thats better!



Now, remove the contact assemblies (17mm spanner again). They are different, and come in different bags in the roughtrax kit.

Here's the one that connects externally



Here's the one that connects across to the starter motor before being replaced



I re-assemble them so its easy to remember how the bits go together again, though there are pics with the kit. Here's an old assembly next to a new contact.



Lift out the reddish brown paxolin insulator plate (well, mine was muddy and black) and give it a clean up, and generally give the exposed internals a bit of a wipe round.

Here's my nice clean plate ready to go back.



Fit the new contacts referring to the pics, and the ones you just took out, and slide the new plunger into the hole, having cleaned out said hole first. MAKE SURE there is no metal contact between the new contacts and the body of the starter - in other words, make sure you haven't missed an insulator, or assembled anything wrong, or you will be in a world of pain, smoke and flames when you re-connect your batteries.

Thats better!



Re-fit the cleaned up seal, and the backplate and refit to the truck. Re-fitting is easier I found, and is just the reverse of removal.

When everything is replaced, and you are sure you haven't created any short circuits, re-connect the batteries and marvel how your wonderfully repaired started spins the engine up faster than it has in years!

[BioHazard]

About bl00dy time ............thats a tech section job

[gwh200]

nicewrite up andy. i have to attack mine to flush and burp the cooling sometime soon.going to wait till i can run the hosepipe without turning outside into a skating rink.i ed to do it as hardly any heating

[steve s]

nice one even i can folow that .

[surfenstein]

excellent write up there andy.

[legendgamesmaster]

well, for mile-high-lift-boy it might be that simple, but for standard old me, i had a bu88er of a time undoing the two bolts to even get it out.
check my write up for how i did that, and the aussie one for pics showing how to get at the bolts.

nice pics andy. i couldnt be arsed to take any!

[Apache]

Cheers chaps. I only really took photos cos I was amazed / horrified at how bad the condition was! It's unbelievable it worked as long as it did!

Andy, dunno if the 2.4 is different - and I reckon anyone with a bodylift of 3" or more could do the whole job through the wheelarch, including removing it through there!

Now I've done it twice, I reckon I could do the whole job including the refurb in about 45 minutes - on a warm and sunny day, obviously!

[Tiger]

Nice one, very handy. i'am putting off loads of jobs on my truck with this weather. well done for braving it you real man you

[Apache]

Nice one, very handy. i'am putting off loads of jobs on my truck with this weather. well done for braving it you real man you

Born out of necessity, otherwise I'm as lazy as the next man! It was no fun lying on cold tarmac under the truck, believe me!

[TobyJug]

deffo a good write up mate....

I think that even I cud do that now......

[mud skipper]

long time since anyone has done a tecky thread like that, nice one Andy
no excuses now

[tintin]

nicewrite up andy. i have to attack mine to flush and burp the cooling sometime soon.going to wait till i can run the hosepipe without turning outside into a skating rink.i ed to do it as hardly any heating

Got to do exactly the same on mine Gra, let me know when, Maybe we could do the two together?
Alan

[JUDWAK]

Refurbed the starter today. Yes, it was bl00dy cold and yes, hands came in for a bit of a scuffing but it spins like a very spinny thing now Thought I'd photograph it to take away a bit of the fear and mystery, and give people the option of doing it themselves for ~£40 rather than paying a garage ~£150

Here's the service kit from Roughtrax - which apparently will fix nearly all starter woes (and I believe that, having done this job twice now)



The kit will replace the fixed solenoid contacts, and the moving plunger contact, and the associated insulators / fixings etc.

Start the job by disconnecting the positive leads from both batteries. DO NOT skip this step!

Then, as the starter wont come out from the bottom due to torsion bar / various bits of chassis being in the way, you need to remove a few bits from above. Mainly, this is the fuel filter housing. Dont bother disconnecting pipework, its not necessary as there is enough pipework to allow the assembly to sit on the inner wing by the airbox. I also removed the upper part of the ATF dipstick assembly, and a few hose clamps near the bottom of the oil filter. Again, this takes 2 minues and will save you loads of cursing later

Now, working through the wheelarch, undo the main feed to the starter (17mm spanner) and the small solenoid actuator cable at the plastic inline connector just behind the starter.

You should then, after a bit of jiggling, be able to lift the starter out through the top of the engine bay.

Now take it somewhere warm! (my hands were numb, and slightly bl00dy by now!)

Take the back of the solenoid assembly - 3 x 8mm screws - and remove the seal for cleaning. Lift out the plunger. Mine looked like this - which is bad.



Here's the old plunger next to the new one. No prizes etc...



OK, so this is pretty bad - but it has been subject to pretty long periods under water this year!

Clean up the spring off the old plunger as there isn't one in the repair kit (not that you should need one) and fit it to the new plunger - ahhh, thats better!



Now, remove the contact assemblies (17mm spanner again). They are different, and come in different bags in the roughtrax kit.

Here's the one that connects externally



Here's the one that connects across to the starter motor before being replaced



I re-assemble them so its easy to remember how the bits go together again, though there are pics with the kit. Here's an old assembly next to a new contact.



Lift out the reddish brown paxolin insulator plate (well, mine was muddy and black) and give it a clean up, and generally give the exposed internals a bit of a wipe round.

Here's my nice clean plate ready to go back.



Fit the new contacts referring to the pics, and the ones you just took out, and slide the new plunger into the hole, having cleaned out said hole first. MAKE SURE there is no metal contact between the new contacts and the body of the starter - in other words, make sure you haven't missed an insulator, or assembled anything wrong, or you will be in a world of pain, smoke and flames when you re-connect your batteries.

Thats better!



Re-fit the cleaned up seal, and the backplate and refit to the truck. Re-fitting is easier I found, and is just the reverse of removal.

When everything is replaced, and you are sure you haven't created any short circuits, re-connect the batteries and marvel how your wonderfully repaired started spins the engine up faster than it has in years!

wicked post that dude very well put together

[24Seven]

Thanks Andy, I want to that job as a precaution on my 90 and it's the same kit.

I try and think of things that will give me a total break down and a failed starter on an Auto is going to ruin my day.

[madcampbell]

Cheers chaps. I only really took photos cos I was amazed / horrified at how bad the condition was! It's unbelievable it worked as long as it did!

Andy, dunno if the 2.4 is different - and I reckon anyone with a bodylift of 3" or more could do the whole job through the wheelarch, including removing it through there!

Now I've done it twice, I reckon I could do the whole job including the refurb in about 45 minutes - on a warm and sunny day, obviously!

Did it on my 2.4 it won't come out the bottom of the engine bay (no lift)

I did the refurb in place...the hardest bit was the bolt down the back of the engine bay that is very difficult to get to or any tool on!!

MY hint would be......

I found that I could lower a rachet and socket down the very back of the engine bay between the pipe work and body (cannot get your arm down there), while lying over the top of the engine. Then with sleeve rolled up feel down and around to locate the bolt with my right hand. I then held the string that suspended the rachet with my left hand and located the socket on the bolt with my right hand....then used the string to work the rachet, while my right hand kept the socket in place. I could not get my left arm down the gap between the engine and the body (2" wide gap)

Took 3 minutes to get the bolt out once had found it and (1 hour to work out the above)

This method also worked in reverse, but had to use a pole to push the rachet down and the string to pull it up.

Mark