Hello all, I’ve got my 1500 (
picture for your pleasure) out on the driveway and attempting my first ‘big’ bit of work on it -
a new starter motor. Surface level, it’s an easy job, but a couple of questions if someone could help me as I’m driving myself mad!
The two bolts to remove seem to be impossibly difficult to remove - I’ve got some penetrating spray down there but it’s veeeeery tough.
1) I’ve only got a metric socket set at the moment - will I simply destroy the bolt if I even try to continue? Seems to be 1/2” so I’ll grab that on order if I’ll be making things worse with 13mm or 14mm.
2) Getting the old starter off is one thing, but getting the new one on? There’s very little wiggle room to even get my torque wrench lined up straight for the top, not even considering the lower one yet. Any tips or advice would be great for this. Am I supposed to remove the heater unit or should it literally be as simple as Haynes suggests?
3) Just in case I
do end up destroying these bolts - what should I be looking for when I’m grabbing fresh ones? A part number would be ideal if anyone’s able to help!
This is my first proper project and I already feel like I’m in a bit too deep
As an aside, I’ve troubleshooted down to a faulty starter motor by doing the following
0. Starter has been hit and miss - hitting with hammer + wood has stopped working now
1. Ignition gives absolute silence - not even a click
2. Battery at 12.68V, awesome
3. Cleaned up terminals on battery, positive and ground
4. Attempted to clean chassis ground but that looks very corroded, might be
that simple!
5. Cleaned up all connections to starter
6. This now gives one click but still intermittently - solenoid engaging?
Once I’ve removed the starter, I’ll do a quick test out of the car to see if it’s actually borked, or whether it’s grounding elsewhere in the car.
Happy to post any photos that might be useful for troubleshooting
Any thoughts, advice, tips, or snark is all well received!
Cheers,
Alex