Technical question and i can't seem to find an answer on any of the forum threads.
My Punto is a 1.2 8v Active sport Mk2/B
Starter went Kaput, so went onto europarts website and put in vehicle details.It listed 3 different motors with different Kw and teeth numbers and to select the correct one for my Vehicle (hadn't taken the motor off then so had no idea).
Went onto Amazon and it listed several which it stated will fit my Car when i looked into the specs of them.

I get the KW part as being how much current it draws to work , most seem to be 0.8 or 0.9 KW for the 1.2.

The question is does it matter if you get 8 or 9 teeth, i read somewhere that it makes no difference on the 1.2 8v engine ?.

reached the point of really swearing at the car now....
Problem started when car wouldn't start yesterday...turned over really slowly as if battery was low on power....connected it to wifes car with jump leads and still exactly the same, car was working perfectly well the evening before when i started it and drove home from work.
Took car onto road and bump started it, all ran fine...got to a hill near me and switched engine off while car was rolling downhill and with it out of gear tried starter...nothing, so bump started it again and drove home.
Tried to start it again and was getting a click from solenoid but not turning over hence thought starter was duff.
New starter has arrived and i fitted it (still can't answer about having only 8 teeth instead of 9)....turn key...nothing. disconnected battery and tried another...nothing.
With Ignition on fuel pump works, and under bonnet you can hear chattering noise for a moment (Injectors ?)
With steering column shroud off and fuse box open when you turn the key you can hear the relay in the fusebox click (once when you bring the ignition on and a second time when you turn the key for the starter)....
I've kind of run out of ides at this point as to whats likely to be wrong...any suggestions ?

Does the new starter have the same amount of teeth as the old one ????
The number of teeth does matter as the spacing between them will be different
If a starter with the incorrect amount of teeth is used,it will jam into the flywheel and not release.

Where did you connect the jump leads?
If to battery it will not solve an iffy earth strap.
Try putting a jumper between the engine lifting eye and the negative of the battery in the car.
This bypasses the earth strap.

Just replaced my earth strap (gearbox to body) with a premade lead from halfords
There like only 5er....

As the stock bracket i guarentee will twist and snap as you try to remove it...


But mine was fully of spanked wires - copper dust - and green puss on gearbox side

Mine had random electrical glitches
Imboliser light coming on
Power steering freaking out under heavy loads
Turn key - engine turns over once
Keep hold of key and it turns over like a flat battery - but would speed up and start

So a new terminal on the battery to body post
A new gearbox to body and cranking speed is alot healthier!

Did wack a bigger battery in too as mine was showing signs of age

Ziggy

Italian Job said:

Does the new starter have the same amount of teeth as the old one ????
The number of teeth does matter as the spacing between them will be different
If a starter with the incorrect amount of teeth is used,it will jam into the flywheel and not release.

Click to expand...

Thanks that was the main answer i needed. No old motor i took out had 9 teeth, new one had 8.
Old motor is back in car and is now working again (still not sure why it stopped in the first place)

Ziggy122 said:

Just replaced my earth strap (gearbox to body) with a premade lead from halfords
There like only 5er....

As the stock bracket i guarentee will twist and snap as you try to remove it...


But mine was fully of spanked wires - copper dust - and green puss on gearbox side

Mine had random electrical glitches
Imboliser light coming on
Power steering freaking out under heavy loads
Turn key - engine turns over once
Keep hold of key and it turns over like a flat battery - but would speed up and start

So a new terminal on the battery to body post
A new gearbox to body and cranking speed is alot healthier!

Did wack a bigger battery in too as mine was showing signs of age

Ziggy

Click to expand...

Thanks for that ziggy, i will have to pay Halfords a visit see about getting one of those...

Brendan W said:

Where did you connect the jump leads?
If to battery it will not solve an iffy earth strap.
Try putting a jumper between the engine lifting eye and the negative of the battery in the car.
This bypasses the earth strap.

Click to expand...

I connected a black jump lead between the negative battery connection and the engine lifting eye. used a second battery (that i know is good) in place of the original one in the car

Ok after a lot more swearing & cursing an update.
Thanks for the info about earthing, that had already occurred to me and I had already tried it before removing the original starter motor (Jumper cable substituted for the main earth, didn't make any difference)
Discovered why there was no joy with new starter (it's getting sent back)...realized I hadn't connected the wire for the low voltage circuit...then discovered there was nowhere to connect it on the new starter, no low voltage=no solenoid which in turn means no high voltage to spin it....
Used spare battery and car battery to make low & high circuits on the original starter to test it...typically (AKA Sod's Law)...it decided to work perfectly.
Have now refitted the original starter back on the car, reconnected the battery and it started the engine 1st turn of the key (this was also without the earth bypass).
Now I have EML on tho, and for some reason all of a sudden Multiscan don't wanna recognize the KKL/VAG lead (IDK why as it worked perfectly every other time i've used it)...so can't at the moment talk to the cars electronics to find out why eml is on....
Today I really hate my Punto !...Hating the Laptop came a very close second

The jumper bypass fails a lot of the time because jumpers don't get proper contact. You may have made connections and or a sticky solenoid good again with all the removing and refitting.
As for MES the car could be confused with all the power on off cycles. I would try disconnecting the battery and leave it for a bit and try again.

Scudmonkey said:

<snip>

..realized I hadn't connected the wire for the low voltage circuit...then discovered there was nowhere to connect it on the new starter, no low voltage=no solenoid which in turn means no high voltage to spin it....
Used spare battery and car battery to make low & high circuits on the original starter to test it...typically (AKA Sod's Law)...it decided to work perfectly.
<snip>

Click to expand...

For the nowhere to connect control wire, see this thread
https://www.fiatforum.com/grande-punto/460031-won-t-start-help-please.html


Still sounds like a faulty ground lead. Just moving it can make it work again for a while.


Robert G8RPI

Thanks for the replies.
Am going to take up Ziggy's suggestion and get a replacement earth lead, listed by Halfords as 9" (£5), 18" (£6.99) or 24" (£7.49), which length do i need ?
New starter is going back, all arranged with Amazon i just gotta send it now.
Prob I had with MES was my Laptop wasn't identifying that it had a cable attached kept telling me there was no such com port, was nothing to do with the car as far as i can tell.
Meant I had to switch from car mechanic to computer technician LOL.
Tried car again this morning...started 1st turn of the key again no problem but still have EML. Have now uninstalled MES from laptop and installed the newest version so will see what happens with that.
One thing with having left my Punto on axle stands and using wife's Ford today...some nice new brake components arrived (New discs and drums) so can fit them tomorrow since car is already for doing the job and then hopefully get the diagnostics going and sort out the eml

Forget the 9", 18" is probably tight. Run a piece of string along the old one and measure that.
For some events the EML will clear after three cycles with no repeat of the problem. MES will tell all.

Final update before i go off to Halfords for a new Earth Lead.
Car started no problem again this morning, but EML still on (this after about 8 Startups now since refitting the original starter motor)
Fitted my nice new brake components (Brembo front discs and new rear drums)....Easy & quick job with no problems encountered (Always nice when that happens ).
So then decided to investigate the EML further, started car again, no issue starting but EML on....
Out of curiosity used the jump lead from Neg on the Battery to engine block again, started car and EML promptly went out.
So many thanks to those who suggested an earthing issue, seems that this is what the issue was.
Now to go get a new earth lead

I think the phrase 'the lad has a good grounding in car maintenance' comes from there

Brendan W said:

I think the phrase 'the lad has a good grounding in car maintenance' comes from there

Click to expand...

LOL.very likely.
Have now added in new earth lead, couldn't undo other one from Gearbox (hate when nuts corrode)...so took out a bolt from the bell housing and connected new lead to there and then affixed to neg connector on battery, it's basically acting in parallel as a second earth lead. Also took out the body earthing bolt (below battery tray) and gave that a good clean too. Car now starts fine, no EML so happy with it again

Scudmonkey said:

LOL.very likely.
Have now added in new earth lead, couldn't undo other one from Gearbox (hate when nuts corrode)...so took out a bolt from the bell housing and connected new lead to there and then affixed to neg connector on battery, it's basically acting in parallel as a second earth lead. Also took out the body earthing bolt (below battery tray) and gave that a good clean too. Car now starts fine, no EML so happy with it again

Click to expand...

Which lead did you get in the end?

24" just the right length. was £5.49 in Halfords. Weirdly this lead (a black one) wasn't listed on their website. that only had braided ones listed