JGromada Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 I have a 98 OBW AT w/ 143K. I have been experiencing starting problems similar to those noted by other people over past month. It Almost always happens early morning & when it is cool and when damp seems to be much more of a problem. Went to a mechanic early on and got zero help with him pointing me to the battery. It sounds an awful lot like that starter terminal clips problem that has been posted. Oh and btw the battery & its terminal is definitely ruled out (new battery plus it does the same thing on a jump). Generally after a few tries it would start so no big deal right? Here's todays issue. Today was chilly lower 50s and very damped as it rained last night. Went to start, almost immediately partially start and then stopped. Still heard clicking but would not turn over. Did this 7 or 8 times and then eventually got it to start. But the sound was horrendous!! It ran like this for 15 min and then eventually smoothed out to normal. Its almost like the starter did not disengage! So from this I am thinking starter solenoid or some other problem with starter. Any thoughts. When i first got it started this morning and I heard that terrible sound I let it run for a minute and then tried to turn it off. But car would not stop, it kept running with key off (dieseling) whats this all about? I think this is related to my starting issues (hope so). After this whole mess I got back home and let is sit half hour and it seemed to start normally and also no dieseling. I have not had any starter experience on this car but have had tremendous help on this Board. (USMB is terrific!) so i have a bunch of questions for the experienced: How hard is it to get to the starter/starter solenoid? Do i need to have it on jack stands? Can't find any good pictures anywhere to help me. Is the solenoid actually part of the starter? I tried looking about a price on it by itself and was running into a blank. Doesn't seem to make sense. Does it sound with my latest problem that the starter is most likely the culprit and the fact the problem is so serious mean I should definitely replace it. Is the dieseling related to all this? Did I somehow damage my flywheel today if in fact the starter was running continuosly? Any other posts/information I should be aware of? I am moderately mechanically inclined (repl struts for instance), but don't have indoor space like a garage to work. I am trying to balance limited time to work on this with the need to have the car available all at minimum cost. (dont we all?) Thanks in advance to the Board and all you helpful people out there, Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 i didn't have time to read through everything, getting ready to leave. keep in mind that dirty or loose terminals will cause what seems like starter problems. the starter draws a ton of current, weak or dirty connections at the battery terminals will cause issues similar to a weak starter. clean the terminals and make sure they are tight first. have the battery tested. most of the larger chain stores (advanced/auto zone) have free battery, alternator and starter testing, that's a great place to start. subaru starters are cake to replace. it's on top of the transmission on the drivers side, under your brake master cylinder (under the reservoir that holds the brake fluid), bolted to the transmission. tends to be just a tad tight under there, but in all reality they are very simple to remove. gotta split, good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uniberp Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 I have a 98 OBW AT w/ 143K. I have been experiencing starting problems similar to those noted by other people over past month. It Almost always happens early morning & when it is cool and when damp seems to be much more of a problem. Went to a mechanic early on and got zero help with him pointing me to the battery. It sounds an awful lot like that starter terminal clips problem that has been posted. Oh and btw the battery & its terminal is definitely ruled out (new battery plus it does the same thing on a jump). Generally after a few tries it would start so no big deal right? Here's todays issue. Today was chilly lower 50s and very damped as it rained last night. Went to start, almost immediately partially start and then stopped. Still heard clicking but would not turn over. Did this 7 or 8 times and then eventually got it to start. But the sound was horrendous!! It ran like this for 15 min and then eventually smoothed out to normal. Its almost like the starter did not disengage! So from this I am thinking starter solenoid or some other problem with starter. Any thoughts. When i first got it started this morning and I heard that terrible sound I let it run for a minute and then tried to turn it off. But car would not stop, it kept running with key off (dieseling) whats this all about? I think this is related to my starting issues (hope so). After this whole mess I got back home and let is sit half hour and it seemed to start normally and also no dieseling. I have not had any starter experience on this car but have had tremendous help on this Board. (USMB is terrific!) so i have a bunch of questions for the experienced: How hard is it to get to the starter/starter solenoid? Do i need to have it on jack stands? Can't find any good pictures anywhere to help me. Is the solenoid actually part of the starter? I tried looking about a price on it by itself and was running into a blank. Doesn't seem to make sense. Does it sound with my latest problem that the starter is most likely the culprit and the fact the problem is so serious mean I should definitely replace it. Is the dieseling related to all this? Did I somehow damage my flywheel today if in fact the starter was running continuosly? Any other posts/information I should be aware of? I am moderately mechanically inclined (repl struts for instance), but don't have indoor space like a garage to work. I am trying to balance limited time to work on this with the need to have the car available all at minimum cost. (dont we all?) Thanks in advance to the Board and all you helpful people out there, Joe I think you should get a 14mm socket wrench and change in a new starter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGromada Posted October 12, 2007 Author Share Posted October 12, 2007 With the battery based on a previous mechanic who looked at it I bought a battery so it could not be any question about it. So battery and its terminals are good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OB99W Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 [...]Did I somehow damage my flywheel today if in fact the starter was running continuosly?[...] Not likely; there's a one-way clutch mechanism in the starter that allows the engine to turn faster than the starter is driving it. It's more likely that the overruning clutch could be damaged than would the teeth on the flywheel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Sometimes it is just the starter contacts that need swapping out. I just bought a Subaru reman starter from subarupartsforyou.com; here's a comparison pic. The reman starter for some reason was missing a rubber boot over one of the contacts, hence the blue rtv holding the one I ripped off the old starter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGromada Posted October 14, 2007 Author Share Posted October 14, 2007 hey great photo on that last post! I checked it out yesterday and that boot is very loose and the terminals look really dirty. i will pull out the starter and clean it all up and see what happens. Thanks all! Just one other question: That interlock switch that ensures that the transmission is not in gear in order to start; where is that located? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGromada Posted August 13, 2008 Author Share Posted August 13, 2008 never properly closed this out. I finally did replace starter. A rather simple job I might add. and everything has been perfect since. thanks all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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