Simon928

The starter on my '90 S4 died and I got it rebuilt at a local shop. I installed it and the motor would turn over but it wouldn't start. I took the starter off and bench tested it and am I looking at things backwards or is the starter rotating the wrong way?

Simon928

Here is the video of the bench test embedded so that it is easier to view.

Rob Edwards

Engine cranks clockwise when viewed from the front, so the starter should be rotating counterclockwise. Your starter looks like it's also turning clockwise (as viewed from the front). Looks backwards to me.

Simon928

That's what I thought...I couldn't believe that it would be backwards, but that was the only thing that fit the symptoms I was having. I read an old thread about someone else experiencing a similar issue and that there probably wasn't anything to worry about as far as damage was concerned--just check to see that the belt hasn't skipped. I'm still pretty pissed at the shop though.

worf928

Yup. Do that and then rotate the crank twice in the correct direction by hand before using a (properly rebuilt) starter.

Simon928

I got the shop to rebuild the starter properly and before I started it I checked the cam timing and both gears are still dead on so luckily nothing bad happened in that regard. I was overdue to recheck my belt tension anyways due to a semi-recent belt change, so in the end it wasn't a wasted effort. My belt needed to be tightened a bit to get it to the tight side of the window, and I also replaced the large coolant hoses at the front of the engine with some new ones that I had sitting in my drawer for a year or more, and I even fixed a leak in the low pressure PS hose, so I made some positive things happen out of this annoying situation. The car started and then died immediately after two or three tries, but the next time I hit the gas pedal after starting and it has worked perfectly ever since.

Lesson learned: always bench test rebuilt starters, and probably even new ones!