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DISCUSSION => General Topics => Topic started by: bimma_318iS on April 21, 2007, 09:15:27 PM

Title: That starter...
Post by: bimma_318iS on April 21, 2007, 09:15:27 PM: AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH...

I can't get the starter off...

I got one bolt but the other one is impossible to get to without taking apart the whole engine...

and I busted my finger...

Anybody taken off the starter?

I really don't want to take apart more than needed...Any help appreciated.
Title: ?
Post by: bimma_318iS on April 22, 2007, 04:44:18 PM: Anybody?
Title: That starter...
Post by: Febi Guibo on April 22, 2007, 05:06:32 PM: (http://ee1394.com/bmw/docs/factory/repair/en/repair/images/0235.jpg)

hope this helps!
Title: Yes!!!!!
Post by: bimma_318iS on April 23, 2007, 03:35:49 AM: THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!

I APPRECIATE IT MUCHO...thata exactly what I needed.

Thanks!!!
Title: So today...
Post by: bimma_318iS on April 24, 2007, 01:05:25 AM: I took two starters off and put one back on...After this experience I hate this motor for now....my integra is so much simpler...AAARRRGGGHHH...my hands are all busted...

Man I am frustrated...my car still doesn't start after the starter change...

The instructions helped me out a lot. Thanks!!
Title: That starter...
Post by: AL GReeNeRy on April 25, 2007, 04:10:10 PM: Quote from: bimma_318iS;24368
I took two starters off and put one back on...After this experience I hate this motor for now....my integra is so much simpler...AAARRRGGGHHH...my hands are all busted...

Man I am frustrated...my car still doesn't start after the starter change...

The instructions helped me out a lot. Thanks!!

what made you think it was the starter? im guessing the engine didnt crank when you tried to start it.. did you hear a click? more info on what happened before you replaced the starter would help..
Title: Problem solved...
Post by: bimma_318iS on April 25, 2007, 05:00:00 PM: After all that work it was just the alarm :o , so I pulled it....AAAARRRRRGGHHHH again. Well whatever, at least I have experience with replacing starters :p .

Everything works fonderfully now.:D

Thanks again for all the help!!!!!!

P.S. I should have asked you guys first before replacing the starter. I am still learning, so yeah.:rolleyes: oh well....
Title: That starter...
Post by: D. Clay on April 25, 2007, 05:08:00 PM: I hate alarms. They're a pain in the wazoo except for hitting the button to unlock the doors. I found out a couple of weeks ago that I have one bolt holding my starter in and it's been that way since I replaced the throw out bearing two years ago. Maybe that's why I'm not cussing the starter replacement - i.e. I skipped the hard part.
Title: That starter...
Post by: Febi Guibo on April 25, 2007, 05:55:04 PM: this story will make you feel a little better
(I have already posted this, maybe even here, forgive me)

In college, many years ago, when crude oil walked the earth in the form of dinosaurs, I had a 1972 SAAB 99 (I was older than my car by only a few years, however).

Anyway, one afternoon, while futzing with the car, I found this really ratty piece of cardboard or fiberboard under the exhaust manifold. I was like, "I don't need this crappy thing" and ripped it out, threw it away.

A few weeks later, my car wouldn't start. I already had an alternator issue, and had replaced the alternator brushes (incorrectly as I later found out), and also replaced the battery (the regulator had an appetite for batteries) earlier so I was like, wtf.

I went on a fruitless thing, and even jump starting the car wouldn't work, so I push started the car, drove to napa, double parked, and bought a bosch starter.

Several aggravating hours later (I was doing this work with like, handyman drugstore tools) I got the new starter in and voila! IT WORKED! I WAS A GENIUS. Even my girlfriend at the time was impressed (didn't last long).

So, a few days later, new starter, new battery, new regulator and brushes. I drive to the store, get a case of beer, come out... CAR WON'T START!

All the same symptoms... jump no worky, push start, drive home. My friends are like, "well, maybe you got a bad starter..."

So, I rip the starter out (faster than the install haha), take it back to NAPA, they cheerfully exchange, I reinstall. and then... it WORKS!

Problem reappears a DAY LATER!

longest story short -> that crappy fiberboard thing was an asbestos heat sheild, and I was cooking solenoid after solenoid

so, don't feel so bad. It took me 3 starters before I realized it wasn't the starter.
Title: That starter...
Post by: Tonyb on April 25, 2007, 10:34:56 PM: Hey Febi, Where did you get this from? Wish I had this when I changed mine!
Title: That starter...
Post by: Febi Guibo on April 26, 2007, 08:42:02 PM: its from the factory repair manual posted in our reference section...
Title: haha
Post by: bimma_318iS on April 27, 2007, 07:35:31 PM: Febi, amazing story. Very interesting read...well, don't you just love going through hell to learn...kinda fun after all is set and done.

D.Clay, yes you got lucky. The whole problem about changing the starter is THAT one bolt that is almost impossible to get to and especially trying to unbolt it. It took me a good 30min unscrewing it. There is no space. There is enough for one click at a time. Fun! I tell ya...good way to practice patience.