Park car, return, turn key, no joy: not even a click from the solenoid.

 

Car is on a small grade with 2feet of forward room. Put in 2nd and ease clutch out to free starter pinion from trans ring gear, but no good, still no click.

 

Pull spare, stare at starter, check connections. All good. Hmm.

 

Guy comes outside "Hey I used to be a Subaru Tech., what's up?" He gets a pair of hammers, puts the handle to the starter body, strikes top of hammer with second hammer a few times, car starts just fine.

 

So, was it a pinion stuck to the ring gear or is my solenoid going south? Or, is there a brush/winding assembly, and striking the starter made the brushes unhang?

 

Many thanks. I am wondering if I ought to have the starter rebuilt to be safe or ?

 

John

or............just get a bigger HAMMER!

Solenoid is going kaput. I learned the smack the starter trick years ago working on old chevys.. works great, but eventually it won't work anymore

Should/can I simply replace the solenoid for cheap money, or is this a fool's errand, and I ought to just have the item rebuilt locally?

 

Or, is there a good place to swap this as core for a rebuilt unit?

 

Many thanks,

John

 

EDIT: I was saving the Big F Hammer for the axles...

They reside in the starter solenoid...hang out...smoke cigs and drink beer in there. Now that the hammer man scared them out...beware...they probably ventured off to another circuit....hahha. Just kiddin'...ya...I totally 100% agree..replace whole starter..easier than replacing just the solenoid...good luck..God Bless.

Used to be a Subaru tech eh? You get his number for future reference and tell him about the board?

 

Incidentally - doesn't take a subaru tech to know that trick. That's worked for me on many cars over the years. Common problem. Last time that happened to me it was in an Infinity G20

 

Pull it apart, and rebuilt the solenoid. Or get a started from the JY. At any rate - rebuilt ones are pretty cheap.

 

GD

if you can find starter parts the most common thing is the two copper contacts in the back of the starter wear out . solinod usually is fine.

 

hammer smacking will eventually get you In more trouble.

on starters I've almost always been able to take the contacts on the solenoid, and clean or sand them. it doesn't take long, and lots of people seem afraid to take starters apart. I don't get why. If you got more money than time then go ahead and buy one, it also depends on whether you want to learn how things work, or if you are content to keep buying new parts for it. The 3 things that generally go wrong are: the solenoid contacts get corroded, you can sand them, the armature gets a bad spot, you can file it or sand it, and the brushes wear out, which you can replace.

RallyRuss is on the right track. Having rplaced many Soob starters, I can tell you that when the contacts inside, near the big red wire get funky, it's all over, no nothing. If it's the selenoid, the starter will still turn over but not engage the flywheel.

Yeah, I've done the "hit the starter with long metal object" with a bunch of cars... Doesn't always work, depends on starter condition...

 

However, I did it on an `84 300ZX, didn't work, and I couldn't even clutch start it! And I can clutch start pretty much anything! The car sat for days... :brolleye:

I live for litte projects like this! I'll pull the starter and clean the contacts.

 

Many thanks!

John

just cleaning the contacts is a temp fix. you will notice that the copper is burnt away not just corroded. not to say i have not done this to get a car going in a pinch but to really get a full life out of it you should change the contacts.