Replacing starter motor on AE92

[BoostBoy]

Hey there...I've been intermittently having a problem with my car starting which to me sounds like the starter motor...there's no problem with the battery or spark as it's been tuned on many occasions with no problems.

I have an AE92 Corolla...and I was told that the turbo manifold being so close to the starter motor without any heat wrapping has caused the starter motor to on occasion not work properly.

How hard/easy is it to replace the starter motor? Is there a certain procedure to remove/refit it...or is it just a matter of undoing the bolts pulling it out and then putting the new one in?

[Vios-GT_07]

i had to remove the exhaust manifold to do mine...

maybe your turbo manifold means there's a bit more space to remove the starter motor ?

hm.. did you try adding a standard 4 pin relay to it? like a horn relay? that will buy you time.. especially if it's intermittent.. i had this problem, even after adding a relay.. 4 months later the starter motor seized..

[BoostBoy]

yeah there's enough room because of how the turbo manifold is designed.

So the heat of the manifold is affecting the electrical parts in the motor? So maybe I just have to replace the relay and not the whole thing?

[Cuzzo]

Do you have the factory heatshield on the starter still?

[BoostBoy]

No, it got removed...maybe i should dig around for it

[LeeRoy]

Thats probably a good idea.

Had to remove the extractors on mine to get it out, and unbolting the slave cylinder mad things heaps easier too. Was intermittently not working but mine still has the standard heatshield, has extractors though.

I bought another one from the wreckers for $90 and when i get the chance/some time ill be rebuilding it myself. Will also put up a how to guide.

[Beak]

Hey,

The stock exhaust is heat-shielded, and I imagine your turbo isn't.

Maybe you should consider some wrap or home-made exhaust shielding, so that the next starter motor lives awhile longer. That's what i'll be doing!

Cheers, beak.

[LeeRoy]

Well my car has 220,000kms on the original starter motor so id say thats not a bad lifetime out of one.

I might also add that i removed it, pulled it apart and cleaned all the carbon dust out of it and its worked every single time since then. I will be replacing all brushes in the other one i got, but in the one i removed they were still in good condition.

The internal contacts were also a little burnt but some sandpaper fixed that quite easily.

[Hiro]

What gearbox are you using? Does it have provision for mounting the starter on the intake side (C52 does)? If so, maybe thats a better option. Still hard to get to, but a hell of a lot cooler.

[BoostBoy]

Just reviving this thread...8 months later and I still haven't done anything about it lol...but recently the car hasn't started at some crucial times, so I want to solve this problem.

9 times out of 10 the car starts...but everytime I crank it over, it takes a little while...like I will have to hold the key in the ON position for more than 5 seconds. There is no problem with the spark, or any electrical problems as far as I'm aware as the motor has been rebuilt, tuned, new battery and leads, Microtech computer, etc.

When the car doesn't start, I notice it's usually when the weather is a bit colder. Then what happens is I hold the key in the ON position and the starter motor does not engage at all...the motor does not crank...nothing happens. Sometimes if I'm lucky, if I keep holding the key in the ON position the starter motor eventually starts to crank the motor.

So I want to pin-point this problem so I can go about solving it. Would this be a starter motor solenoid problem? What would be the best course of action at this point?

Thanks.

[Cuzzo]

If its really starting to piss you off, post in the WPMO thread...lol

nah get the starter rebuilt if you havent already. Before you send it off, hook up some jumper cables to see if it works?

[BoostBoy]

I've held off taking it off the motor, because I'm a bit worried I won't be able to put it back...is it an easy job to put it back? Anything I should be aware of?

Once it's off what are some of the things I can look for, besides seeing whether it engages after connecting it to some jumper leads?

[Hiro]

If you can take it off, you can put it back on. Exact same procedure just in reverse.

[LeeRoy]

I've held off taking it off the motor, because I'm a bit worried I won't be able to put it back...is it an easy job to put it back? Anything I should be aware of?

Once it's off what are some of the things I can look for, besides seeing whether it engages after connecting it to some jumper leads?

Heres what you need to do:

Parts Required: New exhaust gasket ~ $25 genuine
Tools required: Assorted spanners and sockets, sandpaper
Estimated time required to remove: 1 1/2 hours
Difficulty rating: 4

1. Disconnect negative battery terminal
2. Undo slave cylinder from gearbox and also the clamp on the clutch line located on the top of the gearbox. This will allow you to move the slave cylinder enough to get the starter motor out later
3. Undo the extractors and move them away from the engine.
4. Undo the starter motor.
5. Pull the starter up and undo the wiring from the back of it.
note: My car has genie extractors so while I could get away with just pulling them away from the engine, if you have the stock cast item then you might need to remove them completely. If this is the case then get a new gasket for where they join the rest of the exhaust.

Once its out it's also a good idea to rough up the contact on the starter motor for where the power wire goes before putting it back in.

Maybe a good idea if you can't afford to have it off the road is to get another starter from the wrecker and have that rebuilt....then you can simply replace it with the one you remove.

[BoostBoy]

Thanks LeeRoy...that's extremely helpful.

The exhaust manifold won't be a problem, because I have a turbo conversion done which is not in the way of the starter.

Yes I can't afford to have the car off the road as it is my daily driver, so I might do what you suggested...but maybe first what I'll do is take it off, clean it up a bit, and then put it back on and see how it goes.

Do you know a rough cost of a second-hand starter and rebuild?