hans57

All,

Just a note on a positive experience I had this weekend changing out the starter motor on my '91 C2.

I read a lot about this job and approached it with a bit of anxiety, namely because of what I read about the top bolt access. I started at 10:30 AM with the removal of the few tidbits, half shaft, heater tube and then the electrical connections. Sure, the bottom bolt was right there in plain sight, the top one was nowhere to be seen. I even tried mirrors. Looked impossible. So, based on the feel only method i was able to get my 6" extension with the 10MM socket on the top bolt strictly by feel, a quick twist and off it came! Dropped the old starter out, placed the new one on and done! Looked at the clock and it was 1:15 PM. Cool!

So, don't fear, it is very doable, and providing the bolts are not seized, you too can be sipping your favorite beverage in relatively short order.

showard1998

I'm planning on doing the same job in the next few weeks. My starter works fine until the engine comes up to temp. and then takes a few tries to keep the starter engaged until the motor starts up.
Any advise you can offer to a first-timer? Did you go with a new starter or a re-manufactured one?

hans57

Your symtoms are exactly what I was experiancing. Advice? Other than the stated procedure above, nothing more than that. Once you figure out how to contort yourself to reach around the top of the starter and find the nut with the extension you have really nailed it. The rest is a no brainer. I bought a Bosch reman from AutohausAZ. Comes with a one year replacement warrenty and a 2 year roadside assistance plan. Just over $200.00 + $100.00 core charge. You have 60 days to send your old one back for the core return.

Let me know how it goes!

crg53

I did mine a few years ago and like Hans57 says, it is not that difficult a job, AS LONG AS YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TOOLS. The trick for the nut on top of the starter, is to have the right length extention / 10m/m allen wrench, you need just enough for the rachet to clear the end of the starter motor.
Just one thing, Hans57 is talking about "bolts" holding the starter in place, on my car they were allen nuts like the ones through the holes on the heat exchangers.

Torque spec for the six bolts on the halfshaft is 60 ft/lbs
Torque spec for starter motor to transmission is 34 ft/lbs

Yah, and don't forget to disconnect the battery.

tbennett017

DO disconnect the battery. It's scary otherwise.

mrmandmman

The problem I had when I did mine was that once the top bolt was removed the starter could not be physically removed from the space it was in. This was even with sagging motor mounts at the time as well. I had to lower the engine 6 inches.

Edit: on a C4

crg53

From what I have read, on the C4 it is a lot harder to change the starter and you do need to lower the engine a bit; mine is a C2 so it was fairly straight forward.

showard1998

I'm going to order the same one from AutohausAZ tomorrow. While I have the car up in the air, is there anything else I should address "while I'm down there"?

mrmandmman

Be gentle on the cv boot with the half shaft bolts. I think I may have contributed to mine ripping when I did my starter.

hans57

You are correct, they are allen nuts, not bolts. The setup actually makes it easier to start the nut back on the bolt by feel only.

altarchsa

This job is MUCH easier if you drop the engine a few inches

showard1998

Is dropping the engine a few inches an easy task? Whats involved?

altarchsa

You just support the middle of the engine with a floor jack and remove the nuts on the bottom of the rear engine mounts. Check all connections, especially in the engine compartment as you lower to avoid any binding. You can usually come down 3-4" without any problems. Check the seal on the tins as you raise the emgine back into place. Tins fit between the flaps of the seals.

bolt

Hi all,
Adding a bit of info specific to the C4...

I followed the advice above (THANKS ALL!!), including removing axle half shaft & heater duct. I also dropped the engine a couple of inches. It seemed necessary on my car and was only a 15 minute job.

The C4 has a bunch of hydraulic hoses for the PDAS system in the way which keeps gets in the way of the ratchet when trying to remove the top nut, so I needed to disconnect the lower bracket for these and gently pry them out of the way. (Be careful not to kink the hard lines).

I used a 10 mm 3/8" drive hex wrench on a 6 inch extension to remove the top nut. This let the 3/8" ratchet to just clear the end of the starter. The nut was VERY tight, so i improvised a small handle extension to fit in the cramped space using a 9" extension with a 19 mm socket on it that slipped over the end of the ratchet handle. I could only find a space that gave 20 or 30 degrees of swing for the ratchet. After prying like crazy for a long time, it finally popped and I could slowly take the nut off.

This was a really slow and frustrating job. 3.5 hours total. About 2 hours of that was fiddling around with the top nut. Once it was off, it took under 1 hour max to get the new one back on and everything buttoned up. I hope this can help someone save a little time!

Lemass Automotive

Did mine in about 40 mins just removed the right rear wheel and right heater hose. C4 didn't need to drop the engine just had to twist the starter round to get it out of the hole.