Starter 101
 

Before I jack up the car and started turning wrenches I thought I would seek the sage advice of the forum. I own a 1985 XJ6 and the other day impatience got the better of me. I tried to start the car and it didn't engage immediately so instead of waiting for the starter motor to wind down I hit the key again. Now the starter motor will not engage at all.

I managed to turn the engine about a quarter revolution and it still does not engage so I am working under the premise that the starter is damaged. If it is anything else I'll still have to pull the starter. Thoughts?

Just to clarify, do you mean the starter doesn't operate at all? Or, it operates but doesn't engage the flywheel?

Cheers
DD

It does not engage the flywheel. Spins fine.

Yeah, sounds like the starter drive went tango uniform.

Not that big of a deal to remove the starter....

-One bolt above, one below

-Remove battery for easier access to upper bolt

-Extension (and maybe flex joint...can't remember) needed on lower bolt

-Remove trans vent pipe that is next to starter

-Remove oil pressure sending unit in front of starter

-There's a spacer ring at the end of the starter. If you install a different starter don't forget to swap the spacer over

-The heavy gauge cable at the solenoid can be disconnected from the "+" junction post on the firewall. This gives you some slack to work with


The sending doesn't necessarily have to be removed but it the starter gets away from you while lowering it down it might hit the sending unit and snap it off


Cheers
DD

Thanks Doug,
I'll be getting under there in the next couple of days. Last night I checked with a flash light and both of the bolts appear relatively accessible. (And I thought a '66 GTO with headers was tight.) I'll watch the sending unit.
m

Once you "get in there" you'll see that it really isn't too bad. :-)

Of course my perspective is is skewed by also having replaced V12 starters. That's a 6 hour job :-)


Cheers
DD

Gotta admit, I've looked in that engine bay on more than one occasion and wondered how they crammed a V12 in there. My hat is off to you.

BTW I'm doing this job first so my wife can drive the Jag while I replace the heater core in her Explorer which started showing vapor on the windshield on the same weekend. You have to pull the dash AND the AC to do that job. I'll stick with the old cars.

After three Jags I've learned that you gotta take a patient and methodical approach to repairs. Just remove what's in the way and forget about looking for any shortcuts. If you try to hurry the car will fight you every step of the way.

I reckon your Ford heater core job will be the same :-)


Cheers
DD

The starter came out easily with the most difficult part being the clip that holds the positive cable to a vent tube. Bad news is that the starter is fine and the ring gear is chipped. To compound the problem the transmission is just a little too wet even a British car. So it looks like I'll be pulling the transmission soon. In the mean time I'm going to clean the starter up and turn the engine through a full revolution (by hand) to see if there are any other bad spots. Hopefully I can dress the gear enough to limp by for a couple of weeks.

Life is still shining on me though. I live in the area of Texas where there have been so many wildfires. Sunday I went outside at 4:30 am and caught a fire starting where a tree limb had fallen on the power line. If I had slept in...

I thought I would circle back around on the fix with a couple of notes. First, thanks for the advice Doug, if it was in the way I took it off. Second I replaced everything in series. I replaced the battery which was a decade old, that was followed by the cables and finally the starter. As a side note the starter appeared to "pass" the standard hook it to a battery test by spinning and advancing the drive gear.

The rebuilt starter came with two small terminals on the solenoid instead of one. Only the one closest to the main power terminal is used.

I'm reading a consistent 40 pounds of oil pressure now. I had read in some thread that this was not unheard of when the sending unit had been removed. For the time being I'm not concerned, but that will be a reason to get out the floor jack and jack stands in the future.

Finally, while I was under the car I snugged up everything I could get a wrench on. I was surprised how loose many of the bolts were, especially the leaky transmission pan.

Next up, fuel solenoids. The fuel injection returns only to one tank and I have to remember which one to empty first. What a pain, but I love this car.

This thread is coming in handy as I believe my starter is on the fritz. Good battery, good terminals, good grounds... no crank even when I jump it from the starter relay. It just so happens I have a spare starter (recently rebuilt) from a parts car. It also has two terminals.

Did you tackle this from under the car (not desirable) or from up top? How did you remove the trans vent line? That thing is right in the way for sure.

Im guessing 1-2 hr job?