High-Torque Starter Rattling Noise

[bob hughes]

I just thought that I would share this with you, just in case you experience such a problem.
Having had the car off the road for a rear end rebuild - new floor, petrol tank, battery and trim - I tried to start it last weekend only to hear a horrible rattling sound coming from my high-torque starter motor. I contacted BRCC - Bill Rawles - and talked to Adrian, his mechanic, and told him of my problem and let him hear it over the phone. He immediately identified it as a problem with the built-in solenoid in the Wasp unit and told me that it just needed cleaning. It was an easy fix once the starter was out of the car; just undo the three screws at the end and use some emery paper to clean up the contacts. Put the starter back in and it worked fine.



Bob

 

[CraigC]

As most of the gear reduction style starters are based on Hitachi and Nippon Denso designs, it is even possible to buy rebuild kits for the some of the solenoids(aka "magnetic switch") should they be used enough to actually wear out the fixed and movable contacts.

 

[gonzo]

Thanks for sharing your experience fixing one of the many HT starters available for our Healeys. Which battery did you choose? AGM or regular Lead Acid?

 

[bob hughes]

I must say that I am not well up on batteries, I guess that it is a regular lead acid by YUASA, it is marked up as 5000 and comes with a 5 year warranty. It is fairly large but does not quite fill the battery space. I have always bought one from the local crash yard, and made sure it was from a diesel engine car, so far this one has performed well but it is early days.



Bob