It has to happen New Years Eve!
Starter motor is appearing to spin up but is not being forced into engagement with the the starter ring. Is the solenoid that pulls it in a known (partial?) failure point, I thought that the solenoid actuator also acted as the 'starter relay' in switching the current for the starter motor. Is the design on this engine different?
Access appears very poor.
PS I am in France, the BoL (Haynes) is needless to say in the UK. The temperature is just on freezing, the nearest Ford dealer (who is v good) is closed until next week!
Any ideas please. I need to get some food to survive the long weekend. (And dont believe what you were taught at school abot a temperate mediteranean climate, the temperature for the previous 36hrs has not been above 0.5C!
Happy New Year.
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pmh (was peter)
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I would tend to agree with you; it should energise the motor after gears engaged;can only think gears stripped on motor or flywheel or pivot gone on the engaging linkage.One thought,put vehicle in top gear,push car forward to move engine half revolution and try again if you have got some stripped teeth somewhere.
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I had already done that to check that ring gear is ok!
It seems as tho it is the linkage that has broken or lost a pin? But from a conversation with a UK garage it appears that is not an established failure mode.
Has Andrew M seen it I wonder?
It appears that it has to come out from below, but I would like confirmation before I start invoking all sorts of favors from local french to get myself some ramps or similar.
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pmh (was peter)
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I thought that the solenoid winding allowed a trickle of current through to the motor windings to start the motor turning at the same time as the pinion was being engaged, to help engagement. Bearing in mind the weather conditions, it could be that the engagement arm pivot/sleeve have become dirty/iced up etc.
If you have some access to the motor, it may be worth trying the following
Get someone to to turn the ignition key to the start position, to get the solenoid energised, and give the motor body a clout with a hammer/available heavy lump. It doesn't need to be beaten to death, just shocked into life.
In the good old days a starting handle used to work a treat.
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Thanks for that, I had already tried it without the solenoid energised. But thinking about the logic you are correct it should ideally be tried with it energised.
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pmh (was peter)
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Keep going, pmh, it's too near new year to arrange emergency food supplies from the backroom to France!
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if you have tried the moving of the flywheel and the clouting of the starter motor then unless you have a bad connection somewhere there is not much you can do but remove the starter motor(are battery terminals clean?)just get your local friendly neighbours to help bump the car off in 2nd for the next few days.
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Hi PMH. Had same prob on a golf last week. On the back of the piniony bit is a friction clutch (to allow the spinning pinion to mesh)which had worn out. The motor was spinning, the pinion had engaged but wasn't being driven. Hope this may shed some light.
Andrew
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Simplicate and add lightness!!
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The clutch immediately behind the pinion is a one way roller clutch to stop the engine driving the starter when it fires. The grease may have gone hard at low temperatures which will stop the rollers moving up their ramps to engage the drive. As an emergency measure, if you can drop the starter a little on its leads (disconnect battery first) you could try a little thin oil around the edge of the clutch where the casing is rolled over. You can check the operation of the one way drive by indexing the pinion with your fingers. This is a fairly common fault - for most "reputable" makes of starter the pinion/clutch assembly is available as a spare. There is a fairly meaningful circlip holding this lot together.
Hope you get it fixed - not the weather for doing it.
659.
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got to say if i got the starter off (they are difficult to get to without a ramp/pit) i would want to be replacing it with a quality recon/new rather than oiling it ,but good advice if stuck in the desert : )
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He's as good as stuck in the desert!
659.
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This now gets embarassing, for all of us experts.
SWMBO (who could tolerate a forced fast somewhat less than me), said why not try a hair drier to see if the low temperature is stopping it moving (into engagement).
5mins (of 1400W) and at the first touch the starter motors pulls immediately into enagement and fires!
Thank you all for suggestions which contributed to her lateral solution. A virtual drink pending the next SE meet. (I was one of the few, at the last one in Barnet, and will promise any of the posters who come to the next one a a bottle of French Red.)
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pmh (was peter)
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A really nice gesture! You just can't beat feminine intuition, although this time it could well fit in with the theory.
Bon voyage and Happy New Year.
659.
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