Technical Squealing Startup Noise

[koalar]

A thought comes to mind, is the unit going to open? I know sometimes manufacturers don't make this easy.

You shouldn't need to

If its squealing it will be pretty seized, push the gear round with a screwdriver and it will climb the shaft exposing the helix, you have to turn it the right way for it to climb, there's a one way clutch

You will be surprised the difference it makes, once cleaned and lubed you will be able the push it round with your finger after


They aren't that difficult to strip down, but it's over complaining things and in most cases unnecessary in my opinion, just one more thing to go wrong

 

[irc]

Both the petrol and diesel starters are pretty reliable

Agree completely, just never had a diesel one squeal. I've got 4 of them in my "tested, good" pile, but they haven't needed to be been cleaned up and re-greased.
I've had a couple which had corrosion problems (which got binned).
And another two which were the wrong (vauxhall) version (along with butchered wiring on the car which I had to reinstate) which I replaced with Fiat versions. So they must have been swapped out at some point, but no idea why.
Otherwise they seem just as tough as the petrol ones.

 

[irc]

Also agree with not dismantling unless they rattle when shaking. Not hard to pull apart and reassemble, but almost certainly unnecessary.

 

[AnthonyH]

Got it thanks.

They aren't that difficult to strip down, but it's over complaining things and in most cases unnecessary in my opinion, just one more thing to go wrong

A lot of jobs I do need repeating, so I'll grease only.

 

[AnthonyH]

Pretty sure that's the cause. My 100hp and quite a few 1.2s made exactly that noise, and a cleanup and LIGHT re-grease sorted them.
The best grease type I've found for these so far is the LiquiMoly LM47 one in the picture, but I'm sure others will have their own recommendations.
There is another cause I've seen, which is that part of the engagement fork has broken off, and this temporarily jams the bendix out. If there is a loose rattle when shaking the starter then it is worth dismantling to inspect.
Or you could just replace, but repair is my preferred option.

I've just bought some LM47, not sure exactly when i'll do the job, i have a few other things ahead of it in a queue.