Changing starter motor on Corsa C

IIRC the starter is at the back and the only way to access it is from underneath. IIRC there is a bracket that gets in the way, but it can either be bent or removed to let the starter out. Once the car is on a lift or even just up on ramps it all becomes clear and isn't that awful a job.

Yeah you're right- it's right at the back of the engine and towards the bottom.

That sounds promising. I don't have access to a lift but I do have a high-lift jack so maybe it won't be as bad as it looks. I'll get underneath it tomorrow ad have a proper look.

Thanks for the reply.

Please reassure us that you will support the car properly on axle stands before you get under it...

Chris

I'm pretty paranoid these days after a few near misses working on cars in my teens, so these days it's axle stands *and* big blocks of wood :)

Glad to hear it, and I hope you don't feel insulted.

I once had the rear wheels of a RWD car on ramps. I was removing the prop shaft prior to a clutch change. The handbrake didn't hold, and I hadn't chocked the front wheels...

My torso was in front of one wheel; as it rolled down the ramp, I had the presence of mind to roll along until the car stopped, and I could shout for help.

I had some pretty impressive bruises, and a greater sense of the dangers working on a car can present.

Chris

I have just remembered that the one I changed was on a LHD car on holiday here from belgium, so you will probably have even less room to work than I did :( good luck with that one. At the time I got a genuine starter which IIRC was about 130 quid. I could have had the old one rebuilt, but the ferry was going the next morning !

not as close as when I was changing the chassis on a LWB land rover. I had put all the bits in the back as I dismantled it, the body was on the lift and I was between the body and the chassis, there was a sort of creak and a crash, I was hit on the head by the air filter assembly that I had left in the engine bay above me and the entire body had fallen backwards off the lift, happily the arms kept the body from then descending onto my head. That must be the closest I have been to being killed in my own garage. I take more care with weight distribution since ! The other one that was rather nasty was when I was working on an Ambassador, the bonnet slammed itself with my hand in the opening near the hinges. and of course the bonnet was now locked down with my hand feeling very broken. I managed to raise the edge with my other hand and was planning how to get to hospital the quickest, but incredibly nothing was broken or bleeding, just some nasty bruising. oh yes, another good one: I was repairing the wipers on something and tested the whole lot on the bench, it turned and trapped my fingers quite nastily.

It's scary how many ways there are to injure yourself!

Chris

and compared to many mechanics I am quite careful!! When I was banger racing I got talking to a guy with his arm in a sling, he had been using an air chisel when it got away somehow, tore into his arm and ripped away in there, the diagnosis was that he was not likely to get more than partial use back, tragic especially as was only early 20's, but he said the incident was his own fault, so it must be even worse mentally.

No offence taken mate :)

Some grim-sounding near misses there. Mine happened when the seal on a trolley jack went, but thankfully it lowered the car so slowly that I had plenty of time to get out from under it. Certainly made me think though.

So it'll be more awkward to swap the starter on a RHD Corsa then? I'll have chance to get under it tonight for a proper look, but at least now I know which angle to tackle it from.

I would guess so, because the steering rack and end of the column will be on the side where you are working. cross fingers.

You were right. I had a proper look at it tonight and haven't a clue how to get to it without removing the steering rack, and I couldn't figure out how that comes apart. It looks like I'd have to remove the front subframe to get to that, and even then I'm not sure it'd be accessible.

Remove the alternator & inlet manifold? (That's a vague guess from when I last had the misfortune to look under a Corsa bonnet)

Was it a Corsa C you looked at or an older one? On mine, the alternator is over the other side.

If I could somehow remove the oil filter housing it'd help, but it looks like it's cast as part of the block.

Might be worth asking here?

I had to change a rack on a corsa c recently and had to lower the crossmember to do it, it was not fiendishly difficult.

Thanks Chris, I'll give that forum a try.

Mrcheerful- am I likely to be able to get the clearance needed using just a trolley jack, or will I need to get it on a lift? I had it jacked up as far as I could last night but still didn't seem to have a great deal of room.

I changed the starter on the lhd one just up on ramps, but the rack change was done on a lift, it would be very difficult to lower the crossmember and still get underneath, unless you get both ends off the ground.

Yeah you're right- it's right at the back of the engine and towards the bottom.

That sounds promising. I don't have access to a lift but I do have a high-lift jack so maybe it won't be as bad as it looks. I'll get underneath it tomorrow ad have a proper look.

Thanks for the reply.

And kick and axle stand under there or 2 lol :)