May 2025

The starter motor has been playing up a bit, doing the 'click of death' suggesting that the brushes may be pitted, or the solenoid contacts are burnt out.

A bit of ebay trawling provided a solenoid that looked similar despite having a different part number - so worth a shot!

The old and the new.

Fits ok, works ok and looks ok after a splash of paint.

 

But... It still feels a bit lazy when the engine is cold - even with the huge 850CCA battery, so, one starts to wonder if ther's a more modern gear reduction starter that will mesh with the 1800 ring gear and fit into the snug gap...

We are looking for:- 9 teeths pinion 30mm/25mm diameter, 125mm between mountings and 90mm ring diameter.

 

It turns out (after much web searching, head scratching and a couple of purchases from ebay) that the starter for a Freelander 1 2.0D is quite close.

I mean, the ring mount is too small, the fixings  are too close together, and the pinion doesn't throw out far enough - but apart from that it's great!
It fits in the space we need and the pinion mesh is good with the ring gear.

 

The good news is that with the lower mounting bolt in place everything looks really close.Yes I know there's a hose clip in there - it's to hold the pinion out while doing a test fit. 

 

From there it was a simple job to make up an adapter from a slab of 3mm steel.

 

That should keep the motor located correctly and provide a suitable top mounting hole.

 

A cheeky tickle with the grinder removed a couple of mm from the nose of the pinion so it will throw out to where we need it

'Special' bolt thing that will hold the adapter in place and hold the top of the motor, which doesn't need you to fight inside the bellhousing  with a socket as you tighten them!

 

The motor looks good all bolted in place. Admittedly the wiring is still 'test use only' ;)