Starter's Stickin...

[Sean]

Yippe, I got a new car, now teh old 87 is actin up.

Nice thing is, it isn't mine anymore, and my dad gets to deal with the maintenance. :P

Anyway, when I start the car when its cold, the starter doesn't kick back, it stays on the fly wheel - I can plainly hear it. If this goes on much longer, teh starter's gonna go bye bye.

So, what shall I do about this?

Thanks.

[DaN]

Replace it...

[EtaSport]

Don't jump to replacing it immediately.. The starter in our 528e was catching for awhile and my dad got under the car to check and cleaned the solenoid and surrounding areas, then made sure the gear was catching right on the flywheel and it works as good as new. Perhaps its a common problem on older starters for our cars.

[Sean]

Yeah, my dad was saying we could try fixing it now.

Must happen soon though, I'll check it out this weekend. The longer the starter's like this, the higher chance it'll burn out.

I could drive the tahoe though - my car gets to stay in the garage. Don't want her gettin dirty.. :)

[DaN]

Well, checking around the starter to make sure it's nothing obvious, is a given.
Most likely you can get it not to stick, but it probably won't be a permanent fix.
The starter has already been overrun, and the solenoid mechanism is probably worn. You could take it apart and clean it, and maybe get some more use out of it.
Or you could get a reman unit, and forget about it.

On a customers car, it would probably get replaced to prevent further inconvenience and comebacks.

[BS87]

Have you run the car often? I know when i got my eta, the starter would not let off for a good 10 seconds sometimes, even when i turned it off and took the key out. Now that i turn it over almost daily, it has not done it in a looong time.

[Sean]

Every morning.

I guess it sat for one day as I drove my other car that day. And when I started it the next morning it did it. I turned it off and started it again, and it didn't go on nearly as long.