R Won't Start

[AFDanHef]

I went to start my car this morning and nothing. No clicking or movement of any kind from the motor. All the lights came on and did not dim when I tried to start the car. I connected jumper cables from my wife's car and still nothing. I took a ratchet and tried to bang on the starter motor a little. After that the car actually turned over a few times but never started and wouldn't turn over anymore even after I tried banging on the starter motor more. I think it is the starter motor, especially after I did a quick search through the forum. What really SUCKS!! is that I just changed the clutch and I HAD THE STARTER MOTOR IN MY HANDS JUST A FEW DAYS AGO. :doh: Luckily for me the Y-bracket is already off and that shouldn't make it too hard to replace the starter. It just would have been a ton easier a few days ago when I had everything apart.

Does this sound right to everyone here? Is there anything I could have missed or be wrong on?

O ya the car has started perfectly ever since I finished the clutch swap a few days ago. So I think everything is reconnected properly.

 

[warpspeed]

Sounds more like a bad earth to me, did you clean them when you put it all back together?

 

[Gtirchris]

Sounds more like a bad earth to me, did you clean them when you put it all back together?

Or it could be that the wire going to the solenoid is half broken, the way to tell if its a bad earth is to connect a jump cable between the engine somewhere, e.g cylinder head and the suspension turret or directly to the earth post on the battery and see if it starts and runs o.k.

 

[AFDanHef]

I cleaned everything before I put it back together. I will check the wiring to the solenoid and try the jump cable just to be sure.

 

[PobodY]

I'd give the battery terminals a clean before fiddling with the starter motor too. - I've fixed a similar problem by just tapping them down a little harder onto the posts.

 

[bensmith907]

I had a problem like this when my engine to battery earth lead was Open line. Turned out the bolt thread had been stripped so wasn't clamping the lead properly. As said before check the earth

 

[Liam 589]

As said above, check the battery earth is on tight and the terminal is clean. I had the same problem with my R once. The earth had worked its way loose some how and all it took was a nudge down and a tighten to sort it.

 

[AFDanHef]

The battery terminals are clean and both + & - leads r clamped on to the post so tight i can't pull them off by hand.

Or it could be that the wire going to the solenoid is half broken, the way to tell if its a bad earth is to connect a jump cable between the engine somewhere, e.g cylinder head and the suspension turret or directly to the earth post on the battery and see if it starts and runs o.k.

I tried the jump lead from the negative battery terminal to the engine and still nothing.

Also, I connected jumper cables from my wife's car to the + & - leads and still nothing. There is definitely power to the system. The lights come on in the car and the headlights turn on bright no problem.

When I try to start the car none of the lights dim. I don't know if that means the starter wiring is jacked and no power is getting to the starter or the starter is jacked and just not pulling any power.

 

[Gtirchris]

Ok, so it seems that you can rule out a poor engine earth, the next thing to do is pull off the solenoid wire on the starter, (the thinner one with a flat push on type terminal), get yourself an electrical tester or multimeter, connect it to the wire and battery earth, get someone to "crank the engine over" and see if you are getting 12 volts whilst cranking, this will then tell you if the ignition switch, wiring, relay, fuse, etc is all ok, if it is then the problem is with the starter motor itself, if you are not getting 12 volts or less than 12 volts then the fault lies further up the line. Of course the other thing that it could possibly be is a dodgy immobiliser circuit in your alarm system buddy, which will cut the power to the solenoid!!.

 

[AFDanHef]

I pulled the starter motor out and it was actually one of the more straight forward and simplest things I've ever done on a car. Took me less than an hour and I only made myself bleed once. Although, I have no Y-bracket so I don't think it would be as easy if it weren't for that.

Now that I have it off is there any way that I can test the starter to see if it will work?

 

[Gtirchris]

Yes there is mate, get a battery and some jump leads, connect earth between the battery and the starter body, and the live between battery and the post where the main live goes onto and also the post where the solenoid wire goes onto, its best to put the starter in a vice or secure it somehow as it will jump about a bit. Also watch out for the sparks when you connect it up as it will draw a lot of current buddy.

 

[Tim!]

Yep as above mate, that's I found out mine was dead...

Good luck!

 

[AFDanHef]

Yep it's dead. I think the solenoid is still ok because the gear will pop out but it won't turn. I picked up my reconditioned one from the parts store today anyway.

Before I turned my old one in for the core I took it apart to see maybe if I could just clean it up and get it to work. It didn't look that bad inside. A little rusty but would have cleaned up fine with a wire brush. I think the problem was the magnets at the end of the motor that are held into place with springs. Two of them were seized up and almost ground completely down to nothing. I know they sell rebuild kits in the US for like $10 as I have used them before, although there is no way the US would have one for a Pulsar. I think that I could have salvaged this starter with a rebuild kit but instead I had to fork over £155 for a reconditioned one!!

Why does no one sells rebuild kits for anything here in the UK?!?! :der:

 

[pulsarboby]

because this has now become a throwaway state hense no real mechanics left that fix things anymore 'just fitters' lol

you can buy the brushes as we call them here in old blighty, go to an electric motor repair shop or alternator repair place and theyll cost you no more than a fiver.
the copper part which they rotate around is called the commutator which you clean up with common sand paper, do not use any metal type abrasive such as wire wool or emery paper or it will short out
the magnet part of the starter is known as the 'windings' if these are burnt out then its a specialist job to replace them and not worth doing. but it does sound as though its just the brushes which have burnt out

 

[MarkTurbo]

The brushes from Nissan were about £4 trade in 2003 when i did my starter motor, I did them on a mates pulsar when his went a couple years ago too. I charged him £20 to take the starter off, replace the brushes, then put it back together again. He was over the moon after the prices he'd been quoted for a new starter motor!

because this has now become a throwaway state hense no real mechanics left that fix things anymore 'just fitters' lol

No Bob they're technicians ;-) Which is just a fancy name for a fitter :lol:

As you said all they do is replace things these days, if you stuck an engine/gearbox/diff etc infront of them and told them it needed rebuilding they wouldn't know where to start :roll:

 

[AFDanHef]

Starter installed, cranked like a champ!! My only regret ... I accidentally flipped an apex bit down into the engine bay & I never found it. :Cry: I have a gravel drive and I looked for hours .... I don't know if it fell all the way through to the ground or is stuck on the engine somewhere?!?! grrrrr :twisted: I know it's stupid but it's one of those things that drives me crazy!! I don't care about loosing the bit I just want to make sure it's not lodged in my steering rack or something else that could be catastrophic.

Well I've given up now ... i'm goin to take it to the shop and put it on the lift tomorrow so I will search around really well just to make sure.