Starter motor

B

badlyread

A2OC Donor
Hi all,

Car has been having trouble starting in the mornings, it is taking longer than it used to and on the frosty days my daughters (10 and 12) have had to push the car 100m to the hill so it could be bumped! (it is so light!) After fully charging the battery (not as easy as it sounds as no radio codes etc), it is still having trouble - dash lights dim down as it takes its time. It is not a huge time about 2 seconds and after starting it is followed by a screech. Is it the starter motor?

I am completely stripping and replacing the rear brakes at the weekend (springs, cylinders, shoes, drums) and thought I might strip down the motor as well. I have not done this before so a few questions:

i) Where is the motor located in the engine bay?

ii) What needs to be removed to access it?

iii) How easy is it to dismantle and put back together?

iv) What type of grease to use? and

v) Presumably I will have to disconnect the battery? Is it ok to reconnect while I am cleaning the motor?

Many thanks for any advice


Neil
 
Well to me it sounds more like the batery than the starter i take it its a TDI, if so they do take a lot of juice to start so if the battery is in poor condition, how old is the battery longer than five yrs bin it.
the screech from the starter seams to be common fault as their are few threads on here that discuse this (mine does it ) not got round to doing it it gets clogged up with carbon so it drys up as screeches doesn't stop the starter from working just anouying, if you want remove it, its booked at 1 1/2hrs on the 1.4TDI(75) and on that engine not sure if its the same on them all but as you look into the engine bay its at the front of the engine and you get to it from the bottom, hope this helps

Cheers Phil
 
Hi Phil

Yes TDI and not sure as to the age of the battery but the car is a 52 plate. So it is the battery? Had a guy check it with a meter and he said it was fine (a month ago). Recently topped up the water levels (ripped off the plastic) before charging which didn't take very long at all.

Neil
 
Yes mine is a 52 plate and i replaced my battery last year as i had a problem with it going flat if i didn't run it for a couple of days

Cheers Phil
 
Sounds more like the battery to me, they have a tendency to just die, probably a dead cell, did the engine turn over quicker when you had charged the battery? It could also be your alternator which could have a sticking brush which would cause intermittent charging without putting your red charging light on. Screeching could be coming from the alternator belt slipping!
If it were me I would go for the battery first, try jumping it off and leave the jump leads on while it runs for a few mins, then see if it still squeals
 
badlyread said:
After fully charging the battery (not as easy as it sounds as no radio codes etc)
Click to expand...

Hi Neil,

If your car is like mine, with the single CD Concert, you don't need the radio codes unless you move your radio to another A2. Your Concert will recognise your car and just work. I have had my battery disconnected for over 24 hours and did not need the codes after the battery was reconnected.

John.
 
Hi Churchill

Didn't start any quicker after the full charge! Will check the belts but fairly sure that it is the motor making the noise.

Yes Poor John it is the single Concert CD. So no codes? Makes my life a lot easier knowing that. Thanks.

Anybody got views on batteries?

Neil
 
what about...

the motor that charges the battery?

if the alternator is bad then that could explain why the battery is failing so often?
 
The screech the starter as mine does nearly every time i start the car and then sometimes nothing, but its the starter, you will find a few threads on this if you do a search of the site forums

Cheers Phil
 
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