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Slow Starter Motor

I have a SIII petrol that has always suffered with a slow starter motor. I have had to replace the battery and I suspect it is all the cranking of the engine that killed it.

I have just ordered a new starter motor which should arrive in the next couple of days.

Looked a past afl threads in this groups and I appears that I may have an earth problem. I have cleaned the battery to chassis earth connections and the starter to chassis connections but should I have additional connections e.g. engine to chassis and if so where?

I have not been able find any other earth straps, where about should they be?

The other symptom I have is after a long period of cranking the engine with the starter motor I get a small amount of smoke from the front of the engine bay below the battery to chassis to earth connection but cannot identify the exact source.

Regards, Martin. SIII 109 Petrol

Reply to
Martin (Wirral, UK)
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Definitely sounds as if you have a poor connection problem, probably the earth. It is impossible to say where the earth straps can be , as they seem to have varied, and in any case they are likely to have been changed in the last twenty or thirty years since your S3 was built. However, you can go about it systematically. If the main earth lead goes to the chassis, there should also be a heavy earth lead between the chassis and the engine or gearbox. Get a voltmeter and check the voltage between the engine and the battery negative terminal while cranking to check that the earths are all OK. The smoke you mention suggests that your earth lead may go to the battery carrier or air cleaner carrier. As this is bolted to the chassis this is another likely place for a poor earth, and is not a good place for an earth. I would run a heavy earth lead to a convenient bolt on the engine direct from the battery terminal. There is a possibility that there is a bad connection actually in the starter, although this is unlikely. JD

Reply to
JD

I used to have a SIII lightweight which suffered the same problem as you say. I cleaned up the earth lead/body connection but to no avail. What it took was an angle grinder on the same connection point to get back to really shiny metal on both vehicle and lead to make it crank properly. Every time after that it fired instantly and cranked over at about 3x the speed it used to ! Also on my sisters mk II Cortina (many years ago!) I found that there was corrosion between the battery terminals and the battery leads themselves - which was cured by a damned good wire brushing !

Good Luck Brian

Reply to
Brian

Last night I added an earth strap from the battery directly to the chassis, this seems to have helped the starting and no more smoke as far as it is possible to tell in the dark.

I will add a another strap, chassis to engine and see how I get on, looks like I may have a brand new, unused starter motor for sale!

Thanks for your help everyone.

Reply to
Martin (Wirral, UK)

Silly me left the heater fan on today and the battery was practically flat, but my series 3 still started after the usual dull grunt one gets from a flat battery just barely turning the starter.

Reply to
Larry

Update

New earth from battery to chassis and from earth from engine to chassis and all thing seem fine. Instant starting and no more smoke.

Anybody want to buy a brand new starter motor, boxed?

connections

Reply to
Martin (Wirral, UK)

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