Starter Problems (Again?) (Post #486) 4/20/2014

The Big White Bus came home on the back of a flatbed of shame wrecker Friday night. The starter has failed. Thursday night as I was leaving the Marine Corps Coordinating Council dinner the failure was foreshadowed by the starter giving me a telltale click sound when I tried to start her to come home.

When I turned her over I got a few clicks, uttered an expletive, and turned the key and then she decided to start. I drove to the gas station to fill up and when I went to leave she started just fine. The next morning she started just fine. So when I came out to go home, I had honestly forgotten the starter was misbehaving.

So a flatbed and a late night later she was home and ready for the starter to be removed. I’ve been asked twice in the last 2 weeks by my readers to produce some how-to videos. I took the starter off tested it and then decided I could do a video of the same again. So I reassembled it and made a video of the removal. So here it is with absolutely no fanfare what-so-ever, the first ever Okierover How-to Video.

I mentioned hex headed sockets. The starter is the only place on a Range Rover Classic that comes to mind where this tool is used. (Update: the plenum (air chamber) on top your engine has hex head bolts .)

hexheadsockets

I also said I’d post a picture of the wooden block in use. When you have a long extension being employed sometimes it can be hard to get the torque you need. This is a rather tight space and using two hands is not an option. So you need to cheat a bit with some improvised lever placement.

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I’m resting the wooden block against the engine block and pressing the ratchet toward the block to get the torque I need. It worked great.

That’s the gist of the starter removal. I’ll need to source a new starter. I will probably try to get a used one from Rover Cannibal first. I will also investigate having the existing starter rebuilt. I’m thinking I may have had this starter rebuilt before. I will talk to JagGuy and see if he tells me where to go. I know I had something rebuilt but its odd I didn’t find a blog post for it. I remember taking the pictures of the building. Oh well.

So that’s it. I hope you liked the video. I hope it was helpful.

Thanks for reading and now watching and Happy Rovering.