Starter motor trouble
My 2004 Fiesta 1.4 petrol had a problem with the starter motor, which refused to crank the engine when it was warm. When starting from cold or after waiting 90 minutes, the engine would start with no problem, but with the engine warm the starter motor would engage for a second or two (not enough to start the engine) but then disengage the flywheel, although continuing to spin.
I have since sourced the replacement starter motor from a local scrapyard and it is working fine, but I would like to have a go at mending the old unit and keeping it as a spare. Could you please tell me what’s likely to have caused the motor’s failure? And where can I find replacement parts such as brushes and Bendix drive?
Bartosz Kijanski
The most likely cause of the starter failure is that the solenoid is failing or that the mechanism is sticky. It is the solenoid that throws the drive gear out to engage with the flywheel. If the circuit in the solenoid begins to break down it will release and the gear will move back out of engagement.
The first check may be to ensure that the mechanism is free to move and that the electrical contacts are all good.
Due to the supply of cheap replacement units, repair parts are quite scarce. There are some parts that can be sourced on ebay and there are a couple of websites that specialise in repair kits. These are limited and sadly may not be cost-effective. You can try this site, which has a repair kit for sale http://bit.ly/cm8ssre or this site http://bit.ly/cmbsrxr which lists various parts.
Interestingly, Bosch does list the starter motor parts on this website http://bit.ly/cmbosmr but I can see no link to buy them.