|
Starter Motor Worn Out But You're Not Ready to spend $100+? 
|
So, one day I get in the car, turn the key and absolutely nothing happens! the first thing I did was check my battery voltage. It was a solid 12.2 volts so I moved on to more specific tests. I tried turning the key while the headlights were on so that I could see if it was possibly a loose connection and I was losing power to the whole car. that was not the case. The headlights stayed on fine. I moved around some wires under the dash and tried it again. It started fine. Little did I know that this was just a coincidence. I thought nothing of it and the car started fine the next three times. forunately for me, next time the car refused to start was at my house. so fortunately I wasn't stranded anywhere and I had a ton of tools to fix whatever was to be discovered. I brainstormed as to what the problem was until my dad got home. He has experience with this era car and rembered that in the past the starter solenoid would stick in the off position. so he recommended that I remove the whole starter from the car. Once I did this I initiated the disassembly process. When I got the solenoid open, I noticed that the jumper from the pole piece of the switch to the motor was loose. so I opened the motor. 
the brushes were also very worn out it seemed as though this piece.... 
...had broken off. this is what I figured was the problem, however, as I said, the brushes were very worn out. so I replaced the brushes for like $6 and put a screw through the terminal to firmly mount it back in place 
after a few bench tests, I was satisfied with the operation and was ready for re-installation. 
the starter worked great for the 8 more months I had this car as a daily driver, and it continues to work perfectly to this day, now that the camaro has been retired to be my weekend cruiser. |
|
Home |
|
|
|
| Copyright 2010 AK Motorsports
Sarasota, FL USA |