C15 Hitop intermittent starter motor prob.

[scotty]

Hi Ant,

My C15 still going strong with 85k on the clock now.

Sometimes (randomly) when I turn the ign. key the starter motor fails to turn over. I hear a click but no starter motor turning. When this happens, I just keep trying and it always eventually starts. It sometimes goes for weeks and never fails. I have a good heavy duty Battery installed and it is always fully charged.

From my limited knowledge, I guess the possible suspect parts may be the Ign switch, the starter solenoid or the starter motor itself.

As a quick 'work around' is there a way to bypass the first two items and hotwire straight from the battery to the starter motor ? I only ask as it may get me out of trouble if parked somewhere remote and it finally fails totally.

I always carry a pair of jumper leads and wondered if they would be ok to perform this quick fix to get me home.

Any info / tips much appreciated.

Cheers
Scotty

[ant]

Hi Scotty.
I have a heavy duty door bell switch wired with a large croc' clip on one end and a spade terminal on the other. Put the croc onto the +ive battery terminal and the spade onto the solenoid on the starter ( I think your van has a yellow wire on the solenoid, remove it and replace with the the spade on the switch) Turn the ignition on, and push the bell switch to activate the starter. Another usefull bit of kit would be half a broom handle, you can use it to tap the top of the solenoid while trying to start it in case its stuck.
I have seen some old C15's with a door bell switch fixed permanently to the dash and wired to the starter. The ignition switches aren't that expensive but the starter motors can be.
Ant

[peterholden]

If you hear a click it is not the ignition switch, the noise is the starter solenoid working. The starter motor on a diesel engine (and modern petrol engines) is much more sophisticated than the old fashioned "zing ping" starter which used a bendix thread to spin the starter pinion into mesh with the flywheel.

There are two stages:
The starter pinion moves forward into mesh with the flywheel and then the motor starts to turn the engine. It sounds as though the starter is going into mesh but not turning. It could be brushes but it is definitely a starter motor off job.

Sorry

Peter

[Twolitre]

If you hear a click it is not the ignition switch, the noise is the starter solenoid working. The starter motor on a diesel engine (and modern petrol engines) is much more sophisticated than the old fashioned "zing ping" starter which used a bendix thread to spin the starter pinion into mesh with the flywheel.

There are two stages:
The starter pinion moves forward into mesh with the flywheel and then the motor starts to turn the engine. It sounds as though the starter is going into mesh but not turning. It could be brushes but it is definitely a starter motor off job.

Sorry

Peter

A "click" from the starter motor solenoid does prove it is working mechanically, but does not prove that the heavy duty contacts inside are. They do unavoidably arc everytime the starter is used and then may eventually give up making electrical contact.
As Peter says it could also be a brush problem. For future peace of mind, again as Peter says, "starter off".
Jim.

[AGING HIPPY]

brushes arent not a hard job to be done dont know the engine but on my old lite ace it was in out in ten mins job done in less than hour

[scotty]

C15 Starter

Hi All,

Many thanks to Ant and all who have helped with some info.

I think I will try the easy route first and bypass the solenoid. If that doesn't change the symptoms, it will have to go into a workshop as I have no experience of working on a starter motor.

Many thanks.
Scotty.

[AGING HIPPY]

this is what i followed disconnect the battery first thing take pictures every timre you do something then you have a step by step guide to replace it http://www.nipponautoparts.com/startercontacts.htm

[scotty]

C15 starter problem.

Many thanks to Aging hippy. At least I now understand how the solenoid looks. I think on a good day and if it was already on the bench in front of me, I may be able to fit those contacts but I don't think I could get the starter motor off the engine. Great link ...many thanks again.

cheers
Scotty