Starter motor generating heat!
Posted: 20 Apr 2022 11:10
The starter motor on my 1983 500 Sei-V was working perfectly until one day it wasn't! It was in the garage, the engine was cold and I just heard a click from the solenoid. I kept trying and then suddenly the motor started spinning and turning the engine but wouldn't stop. I disconnected the battery and found that the starter relay (original type) was very hot and smoking. When I removed this and took it apart the contacts were stuck together. I then replaced the relay with a solid state Durite one as recommended on this forum (I have read just about every post on starter motors and relays on here - just as well I am retired with time on my hands!) and recharged the Odyssey battery. This would only click and then stopped doing even that - it also got hot. On opening it up, the moving contact leaf had snapped.
I then thought it must be the starter motor. Using Paul's excellent You Tube videos I removed and dismantled the starter motor. It was very clean inside and all bearings, brushes and gears were fine - as they should be since the previous owner had it rebuilt 4 years ago at a cost of £200. The only thing was that the gearbox was totally dry and the gears were a touch stiff. I dismantled and cleaned the gearbox, rebuilt it and filled with oil as specified. I put the whole motor back together as in the video and everything seemed fine. I decided to run it from a battery on the bench as in the video. The motor ran very well and sounded fine but the jump leads I used got very hot. There was some sparking as I tested it but no more than in the video.
Basically I am asking for reassurance before I refit it as I have never serviced a starter motor before. Is it normal for the leads to get hot when sparking it up from a battery via jump leads? Or is there some kind of fault with a starter motor that generates enough heat to fry anything attached to it? I don't want to refit it until I know it's right.
Cheers
Brian
I then thought it must be the starter motor. Using Paul's excellent You Tube videos I removed and dismantled the starter motor. It was very clean inside and all bearings, brushes and gears were fine - as they should be since the previous owner had it rebuilt 4 years ago at a cost of £200. The only thing was that the gearbox was totally dry and the gears were a touch stiff. I dismantled and cleaned the gearbox, rebuilt it and filled with oil as specified. I put the whole motor back together as in the video and everything seemed fine. I decided to run it from a battery on the bench as in the video. The motor ran very well and sounded fine but the jump leads I used got very hot. There was some sparking as I tested it but no more than in the video.
Basically I am asking for reassurance before I refit it as I have never serviced a starter motor before. Is it normal for the leads to get hot when sparking it up from a battery via jump leads? Or is there some kind of fault with a starter motor that generates enough heat to fry anything attached to it? I don't want to refit it until I know it's right.
Cheers
Brian