STARTER MOTOR

[mickmorrissminor]

I am about to undertake the task of replacing my starter motor (Morris 1000 1967). Is it as easy as it says in the manual, ie remove the wiring on the end, undo the 2 bolts and remove the old one?

Looking at the position of the starter motor it appears that it would be easier to tackle this from under the car, is this correct?

Anything else I need to know?

Thanks

Mick[frame][/frame]

[bmcecosse]

It is dead easy, and yes the bottom bolt is best attacked from below.

[mickmorrissminor]

Thanks for the info and quick quick reply.

[mike.perry]

A 9/16 A/F spanner on the nut at the back and a 9/16 socket, extension and ratchet on the front. Undo the bottom nut and bolt first

[mogbob]

Mick
At the risk of stating the obvious, and insulting your intelligence......disconnect the battery before starting.
( No offence intended )
Take care removing the thick "supply" wire.Use two spanners if posible one to hold the inner nut and the other
to remove the fixing nut.( use the replacement motor to get correct size ).Clean the ring termal for a good connection.
Tighten..reverse proceedure, as they say.

Bob

[bmcecosse]

Why would you disconnect the battery........?

[mogbob]

Why disconnect the battery ?......I always err on the side of caution.

An experienced mechanic knows that working around electrical equipment can be dangerous ( particularly High tension circuits )and therefore avoids the risks by not wearing jewellery, watches, rings, etc, dropping metal tools and waving loose starter motor leads around the engine bay, etc.

For the inexperienced mechanic ,it only takes a minute to disconnect the battery clamps.Better than serious burns from a moment's carelessness/ inexperience/ inattention.
As their knowledge / experience increases.... then people can exercise their own "risk assessment ".I have no desire to
see people injure themselves ,just to gain experience.

Just my personal opinion.
A wise person, does their own research, listens to all the advice that is given, from as many sources as possible and then makes their own judgement.
Bob

[bmcecosse]

Extremely unlikely that anyone is going to operate the starter while the lead is off! It's hardly high tension either. Just seems a completely unnecessary extra op here! And another to refit the thing - with the chance of course of shorting against the retaining bar, and possibility of breaking the clamp and or the terminal post!!

[MarkyB]

I'll second the bit about being careful with the supply wire.
There is a plastic bush the isolates the bolt from the case that can get brittle and be easily damaged by twisting the bolt or tightening so so much as to crush it.

Removing the earth lead is good practice when working on the electrics, some stuff is live all the time (OK not the starter motor) but you'd be hard pressed to have an accident removing or replacing it.

[MikeHA4]

Just to add a thought, everyone thinks, rightly, that High Tension (high voltage) electricity is dangerous. Also dangerous, are High Current circuits, of which the starter motor will be one of course. the old adage 'Its Volts that Jolts, but Mils that Kills' is worth remembering sometimes! I'll risk saying this means, that a high voltage circuit with very little current flowing can be 'safer' than a circuit of lower voltage but higher current (amperage or milliamperes).
In the amateur radio world, people sometimes find their fingers across a thousand volt circuit but theres such little current in it they get 'thrown off' so to speak with not much more than a big fright. Probably hair too, afterwards! A 12V battery can push lots of amps given a low enough resistance to pass through..!

[alainmoran]

If you are going to remove anything I would remove the lead that does not connect to the bodyshell.

In this particular case, as bmc says, there is no reason to disconnect the battery since the solenoid will isolate you ... however as a matter of course, whenever I'm doing anything with the electrics I disconnect the +ve terminal (assuming -ve earth, if you have a +ve earth then disconnect the -ve ... basically whichever wire is bolted to the bodyshell, disconnect the other one)

The reasoning being that if you get used to the idea that if you are doing anything with wires, you disconnect the battery then you will be safe from trashing your battery (or starting a fire) ... if you know what you are doing, then by all means leave the battery connected, but disconnecting it is good advice IMO.

What exactly is wrong with your starter? ... you may not need to replace it, it's entirely possible that cleaning it will be enough (they are pretty sturdy items)

[bmcecosse]

I agree - when working on any electrics EXCEPT the starter - take a lead off, if you are in any way unsure. The starter lead really is safe - so leave the battery on!