Today I did some small trips around town and went to the village nearby to our son's home, to pick up a small trailer.
Parked in the middle of the (small) road to pull the trailer from his driveway, hooked it on and wanted to start. Soft click- no crank!
Tried again, no click, no crank. First car coming up to wait for me clearing the road.
What to do? Opened UB fusebox, blown fuse 40 (starter, EAS).
I know, don't just replace a blown fuse without knowing the cause but a second car waiting already.
Replaced fuse, blew again when turning the key in pos 3.
Maybe a short in the starting circuit? Pulled the small wire from the startermotor, replaced fuse again and it didn't melt when key in pos.3. Presto!
Unhooked trailer and pushed the RR up the drive, drivers in waiting cars looking annoyed. He guys, I need a hand!
Jacked it up and unbolted the starter (with limited tools, 8mm allanbit at home) and went to the electroshop in my town at 16:00 hrs.
The starter appeared to have a short inside, the guy opened it, the brushes were about 80% worn but still in place. All was covered under a thick black layer of greasy smudge that can have caused the short.
Luckily he had a new one on the shelf, original Bosch and I could have it for €160.- on exchange basis.
We went back, bolted it in and starts again! Can be imagination but it looks like she spins faster.
Came home, too late to do the job with the trailer. "Hi honey, that is quick, did you finish the trailerjob?"
"No love, I just lost 160 euro's"
I'm impressed :) Did you run to the shop or get a cab?
Lucky they had one on the shelf but not a bad price for a new one too. That's why I carry a spare starter in the boot when I go on my trips around Europe. Even if the rest of the car is perfect, with a dead starter you aren't going anywhere. You can't bump or tow start an auto and they stopped fitting starting handles years ago (not that I would fancy trying to start a V8 with a handle anyway!).
Morat wrote:
I'm impressed :) Did you run to the shop or get a cab?
At 66 running doesn't make so much difference anymore, our son has a little Peugeot that is capable of carrying a Land Rover startermotor.
I swore I'd never run again once I left the army. I've pretty much kept to it too :D
Luckily when mine was on its way out , the hammer managed to get it going again.
riddlemethis wrote:
Luckily when mine was on its way out , the hammer managed to get it going again.
That moment was a few weeks back, the bendix got stuck in the flywheel once when starting.
In fact that should have been my wake-up call.
Mine decided to lock up after the last engine rebuild, that's when I found there's a very small amount of play in the starter mounting, loosened the bolts, repositioned the starter, no problems since
My just over 1 year old from brand new one crapped out on the blue car recently. A £25 breakers one went on in it's place. The suppliers of the new one did the honourable thing, even though it was out of warranty, and sent me a replacement. That's now sitting on my spares rack waiting for the next one to go.
2 year warranty on consumer goods in EU.