C4-JohnO

In the old days, mini's and mk1 escorts, if the starter got sticky you could whip it out and grease it.

Does the 964, C4, starter motor work the same.

Mine sounds like its sticking and is getting slowly worse.

CraigyB

I had to replace my starter this year, and though I tried never managed it myself. Had to have the car towed.
The starter is in the most difficult to get to place on the back of the engine towards the top, especially so on the C4.
I haven't heard of anyone succesfully doing this procedure without lowering the engine !

Good luck

C4-JohnO

Lower engine!!!

oh ya bugger

Red rooster

Grease and inertia starters dont mix. Grease on the Bendix of a starter is a sure fire way to finish it forever!!
Geoff

warmfuzzies

Red,

So that's a nice gesture saying what won't work, what does? I take it that the sticky starter must need just cleaning??? in that case?

kevin

Red rooster

Sorry but the talk of greasing starters rang alarm bells. Grease attracts dust and grit and will jam a starter fast. A good DEgrease so the drive is clean and maybe a squirt of WD40 etc is the solution.

Red rooster

Yes I agree but any grease on the drive shaft needs to be very little.I had visions of great dollops of general purpose grease being spread everywhere!
When I have been checking out a starter I do it with the starter on the floor with jump leads to give main power . One foot on the motor to stop it leaping about and dab a power wire on to the solenoid to activate.
If it tries to go like a Dremel , sounds OK and the pinion flies out then thats OK.
Its generally the pinion movement that gets stuffed by loads of grease.If it doesnt wizz then brushes/stator windings etc - exchange!
Geoff

Oddjob

I have not worked on this part of my 964 yet, but have on my 944s. Im assuming that the 944 bosch starter is similar to the 964 unit. I have taken the starter apart and regreased the internal planetary gearset and shaft. After 15 years and 100k miles, they can get pretty dried out and dirty in there and I think it helps to freshen them up.

Have to drop the engine to get to the starter on a 964, Ouch!

dutchcrunch

dont need to drop motor to get starter out. just need to get the car rearend raised up.

JasonAndreas

I think it would definitely be easier to remove the starter or the clutch slave cylinder if you lowered the engine but I've had to do both without any lowering. Both jobs require you to wrap your arms around the transmission and reach up there to do the upper bolts by feel. One thing I should have mentioned in the other thread was to disconnect the negative AND positive leads from the battery before disconnecting the wires on the starter.

C4-JohnO

Interesting post there guys

I didn't say how much grease, and I meant just enough to get it going. This is exactly what I did witht he two older cars mentioned and they worked fine after being done. Both where non working before.

Indycam found a great quote 'If you can change you oil .. etc. Then followed by jasonA saying you have to do it blind with your hands rapped around...

;-) I never changed my oil without seeing what i was doing. LOL

Its in for MOT today so I'll mention it to him. Now I know it can be done without engine being dropped it should only take him 30mins or so.

I'll post later and let you know how it went.

Thanks again to everybody for the input, much appreciated.

JohNO

JasonAndreas

There are two nuts but only one of them you can't see...

Pete Squires has written up a DIY with pictures. He calls the C4 differential locking cylinder(?) a clutch slave cylinder which may confuse C2 owners because the clutch slave cylinder is on the top of the transmission next to the starter and unlike the C4 we don't have a slave cylinder below the driveshaft (which I also didn't have to remove). So with page 459 in Adrian's book showing the location of the upper starter nut and Pete's instructions, the procedure doesn't take long. Hopefully your mechanic won't charge too much.

C4-JohnO

Got my MOT today, after replacing one light.

Spoke to them about the starter motor, 2 hours min poss 3 if the top bolt is stuck.

Advised replacement rather than clean up

So thats £80-120 labour + part at £180 + vat

Might have to wait till next month!

I didn't stick while it was there, not once. I jumped in to drive away and the little bugger was stuck, took two truns of the key to get it going - thats life. lol

C4-JohnO

Got my MOT today, after replacing one front light.

Spoke to them about the starter motor, 2 hours min poss 3 if the top bolt is stuck.

Advised replacement rather than clean up

So thats £80-120 labour + part at £180 + vat

Might have to wait till next month!

I didn't stick while it was there, not once. I jumped in to drive away and the little bugger was stuck, took two truns of the key to get it going - thats life. lol