Stater or solenoid?

[phaetn]

Good news -- took the car out for a 15 minute spin today as it was sunny, 10°C, and there has been enough rain to wash away salt on the roads. The season has officially started!!!

A niggling issue left over from last year that I have to address: Sometimes when I crank the starter, instead of it turning the engine over I can hear a mechanical spinning sound with an almost knocking noise from under the driver's dash. It seems as if something isn't fully engaged. If I stop, often I can get the starter to properly engage the next time around and the car fires right up.

Does this sound like a failing starter or a solenoid issue?

May or may not be related: I have to bring the alternator in to be rebuilt. A diode may be bad. It's not fully charging the battery at times with weird affects (turn signal rate slow, alternator light intermittently on but not if headlights are on). I wonder if this may affect the starter solenoid and give me wonky effects.

Thanks and cheers,
phaetn

[baltobernie]

It sounds like a bad solenoid, but I'd take the entire starter assembly to a local automotive electric shop (not a "big box") to have it checked out. It's also possible you have a broken tooth or two on the flywheel, and the (good) starter occasionally has nothing to grab. Remove the debris cover and turn the engine by hand to inspect the flywheel. Of course, the whole starting system relies on enough voltage and current to make it go.

These are minor problems that are easily fixed. Your Senators, on the other hand ....

[phaetn]

The Sens. We'll see what happens.

Thanks for the reply. It just started happening towards the end of last season so I hope something isn't chipped.

I pulled the alternator over the weekend and just reinstalled it today with good resulta. We'll see if a better charged battery will resolve the starter problem.

Thanks again and cheers,
Phaetn

[So Cal Mark]

you need to fix the alternator first and load test the battery. Less than 12v to the starter will eventually ruin it, and as you've already discovered it won't work properly

[phaetn]

Thanks for the reply, Mark

I had the alternator tested and it put out a solid 14.5v. The issue was that its pulley had serious grooves in it so the belt was sometimes slipping. It's a 95 amp Ford alternator installed by the previous owner and I guess they attached the original Fiat pulley to it.

A new pulley has solved the problem and required the alt to get yanked out anyway so no love or labour lost. . The battery is relatively new and still good: EDIT: It maintains 13.4 V at rest right afrer car is turned off, and 14.5 V when the car is running with everything on (headlights, rad fan, turn signal, stereo and iphone charging). Edited b/c numbers were lower with a bad multimeter - a brand new one is better.

I hope I haven't pooched the solenoid or starter too badly.

Thanks again for the help!

Cheers,
phaetn

[DaveMarcotte]

I replaced my starter with the new lighter and stronger one which works great. I mistakenly thought my issue was the starter when I had the issue with my broken valve last year, so I have the original with solonoid if you need one.

[phaetn]

Dave - that sounds great! I was debating buying the lighter one but if I can save $$ by buying yours that would be great!

I'll pm you.

Cheers,
phaetn