Bad start

John Inett said:

some of the longer lasting members here may remember the issue I have been having with bad starting. Having tried all things including new batteries, I decided 2 weeks ago to remove the starter motor in the beliefs that it was faulty. Having managed to remove it after a lot of hitting, the trouble was revealed. The corrosion on mating faces of motor & engine block was unbelievable, after spending just a few minutes checking solenoid contacts & cleaning it all up & spreading a little Vaseline around, it was replaced and it has fired up every time since. Previously it was failing to start every one out of three attempts. If you have starting problems & run out of ideas, try the starter motor for lousy earth.

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Joesmoe said:

I remember in high school there was a really smart black man who was content to run the chemistry lab during the day, and drive the school bus morning and night. I liked to "do homework" in the chemistry lab when we was there, and listen to his stories. One that was repeated for emphasis is perhaps applicable in this context. The US military was largely segregated during WWII, even as blacks largely enabled the win by providing the logistics backbone upon which the allied advance in Europe depended. The lab man was part of the Red Ball Express of that war, and would tell of how when they drove, they had express roads, stopping only to refuel. And when they weren't driving, they were maintaining. They didn't wait for things to break. They packed bearings. Replaced tires. Maintained motors.

And here, I'm wondering, do all of us have a problem waiting to happen with a less-than-optimum design that allows water intrusion into the electrical mating surface of the starter, and if so, should all of us look at a prophylactic removal, recondition, and replace of the starter ?

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Rocket Scientist said:

Haven't needed a prophylactic since I had my kiwi's chopped !

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