I need to change my starter and im asking you all for advice as to if you can remove and refit from the top of the engine as it will have to be a roadside repair and i dont have access to a ramp or a jack or stands.

Many thanks in advance

I think getting it out from above may be quite a challenge, involving removal of the inlet manifold.
Are you able to get two wheels on one side up onto a kerb or verge. That can give enough space to crawl underneath and is very safe if on a kerb, but if a grass verge, make sure it is not soft. When under the car, have someone with you.

Bugger! The curb at my house is only 2inch or so so I wouldn't gain much but I may have to struggle..

Is it a right pain to remove the inlet? I have around 2 hours to swap them over after work portland_bill ?

Inlet manifold involves throttle cable, fuel lines, breather hose, electrical connectors to the throttle body and injectors, plus you'll need a new gasket. If you'd done the job several times you might be able to do it in 2 hours, but the first time you'll need an afternoon.

You really need to get underneath.
In the boot is a jack.
Loosen the wheel bolts.
Jack up one side as far as it will go without falling over.
Put the wheel under the sill as a support, then lower the car onto it.
Might need a bit of wood or similar to prevent the sill ridge damaging the tyre.
Repeat the other side.

The further back the support wheel is, the higher the front is off the ground. BUT! The car will try to rock on the wheels as the front is heavier. Whatever you do make sure you cannot get trapped underneath. Heavy stuff in the boot may help, but don't crawl underneath if it shows any signs of rocking like a see-saw.

Good luck.

two hours is easy to get it done in mate , get it jacked up ,

Id attack it from the pass side , you need a 13 mm socket , there is two bolts from the engine side , and there is one on the Gear box side so 2 pointing --> and one pointing this way <---

take the power lead off your batt , then start remmoving the starter

Hi
I know I am reviving an old thread but if you can do it in 2 hours you must be a lot stonger and flexible than me, took me closer to 4 hours to get the .... thing out

George

It is an old thread, but as there's not been any report of having done the job, he could still be under there.

portland_bill said:

It is an old thread, but as there's not been any report of having done the job, he could still be under there.

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tbh 2 hours is way more than enough, perhaps its cause i have done it multiple times but pretty sure i could have a starter out and replaced and car running within 30mins.

hi
took me 90 minutes to Put it back

tricks i learnt

1 Paint the bolt heads a bright colour so you can see them

2 run a bight colour around the bolt hole to help you find it
i used a bit of Paint and fingered it around the hole

3 use a cable tie through the 3rd hole to hold the motor in Place to support it while you bolt it up
it takes the weight off of you so all you need to do is Put the bolt in, rather than have to support the weight of the motor while Putting the bolt in

4 gear box side bolt first, from the top, 13mm, not too tight

5 engine side bolt next, nice and tight, then tighten the gear box bolt

6 solenoid lead, 10mm, it had a washer, same light Paint trick

7 that little Power supply lead cover goes on before you attach the Power cable 13 mm, light colour Paint trick

problem is, the engine still does not turn over very quickly, but the motor ran really quickly on the bench:bang:




george

take the earth strap from body to gearbox off, clean it back to nice shiny clean metal, same for where it bolts to on the gearbox and body, reattach. Do same for the earth lead from battery to body.

Worth also doing a voltage drop test on the battery - if you not got a tester most places that sell batteries will test it for you for free. The battery can return a healthy 12-13v on a meter but still be a dud. Voltage should not drop far when a big load is attached - all a tester is really is a big resistor with a volt meter on.

That gearbox to body earth strap is prime culprit though if you are quite sure the battery is ok.

hi thanks for the heads up
the battery is new-- but it could be a dud

i will try the earch straps but did they the jump lead trick

i took the plugs out and they were all dry so no a leaking head gasket

i now need a new plug lead since i seperated the lead from the cap

it will probably be wednesday when i get to try again

george

jump lead trick should work and it spin over properly if its an earthing fault but can't hurt to clean them anyway.

gbclassic said:

hi thanks for the heads up
the battery is new-- but it could be a dud

i will try the earch straps but did they the jump lead trick

i took the plugs out and they were all dry so no a leaking head gasket

i now need a new plug lead since i seperated the lead from the cap

it will probably be wednesday when i get to try again

george

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I've just had a similar thing with my seicento last week, really slow to crank to the point that it sounded like the battery was dead flat. Luckily I've got a Cinq with a good battery which spun the Cinq over really quick. So I swapped the battery and again the Seicento cranked as if the battery was flat.

So I removed the starter motor, and stripped it down. I turned out that at some point in its life the clutch must have disintegrated/worn to the point that a load of clutch plate fibres had worked there way into the main windings of the starter. Which then became lodged between the starter magnets and windings jamming the spinning motion.

Cleaned out all the fibres, used wet n dry to clean up the magnets and windings. Reassembled and refitted the starter with a small amount of copper grease at the bearing points and it whizzes over perfectly and starts easily.

You may have a similar problem.

portland_bill said:

It is an old thread, but as there's not been any report of having done the job, he could still be under there.

Click to expand...

Hhahahhaaah yes I managed to do it was a bit of a faff but got there in the end, took me around 3 hours but I also noticed that the earth strap to the gearbox needed to be cleaned due to heavy corrosion.

Once I changed the starter and cleaned the cable I no longer had any issues [emoji106][emoji106]