Micra worn flywheel ring gear, starter problem

if the teeth on the starter are chewed at their tips, then you can get an improvement by reshaping the teeth with a small grinder, they should be chamfered one way, you should be able to see the chamfer and improve it, this is strictly an emergency only bodge, but it does work on some occasions. if the teeth are perfect then check it is the right starter ! as the teeth may be the wrong quantity for the ring gear, otherwise put a new flywheel on, it is an easy car to take the box out of, or just throw it all away.

mrcheerful

If the ring gear's gubbed then there is no quick method.

I managed it with an Austin 1800 (long time ago). Replaced the pinion on the starter and it solved the problem. Old Fords were renowned for chewed up ring gear on the flywheel. Plus one I remember when the ring just spun around on the flywheel. DaveK.

You'll have to get to the flywheel really. You don't have to change it, just move it round a bolt hole as engines normally only stop in 1 of 2 places.

John

Indeed, 4 cylinders stop in 1 of 2 places, 6 cylinders stop in 1 of 3 places.

Anyhow, you might be able to split the box off from the engine and rotate the flywheel relative to the crankshaft by one bolt hole. - Assuming there is no dowels and several bolts holding the flywheel to the crank.

Difficult to put into text, but am sure you know what I am getting at.

Tim..

I might try this. The teeth are perfect, but if they were just slightly more pointed they might have a better chance of meshing every time.

It only plays up about once in five attempts, so it must be the correct one.

I wondered about this, but it's barely worth the hassle. I'm looking at

Last week I'd have done so without a thought, but I've just spent 55 quid MOTing the damned thing.

I'm trying to avoid coming to the same conclusion, but I'm sure you're right.

Hmm... I wondered if there was a normal pre-engaged starter that would fit and cure the problem by engaging deeper into the flywheel teeth, but I guess not.

Oh well, at least it must have been an easy ring to remove!

John Greystrong ( snipped-for-privacy@REMOVEgreystrong.me.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Assuming the flywheel's not keyed, ensuring it can only be mounted in one particular place...

Would a Micra of that age have a slug on the flywheel for an ignition sensor?

The funny thing is, it looked as though the wear went evenly along as far as I could see. OK that was only 3 to 4 inches when looking the the hole where the starter motor goes, but it didn't look concentrated into a small area. Perhaps it had been run with a worn starter for a long while or something. I can't decide if the starter's not meshing because it can't reach far enough, or because the flywheel teeth are squared off to the extent that they physically prevent meshing - I suspect the latter.

Yup, it's clear to me.

Quite. Not sure I really want to find out the hard way!

It looks too basic for that. Pretty conventional distributer, carb, etc.

Willy Eckerslyke (oss108no snipped-for-privacy@bangor.ac.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

It'll be dizzy, but bet it won't be on points. I know Citroen were using hall-effect sensors picking up off flywheel slugs from the late 70s, and on everything from about 83.

you still get money when you scrap a car?! Where do you live? My scrappy takes it but gives you nothing.

Although it assumes that the crank & flywheel haven't been balanced as a unit.

If you were really mean you could probably remove and reverse the ring gear.

Scrap merchants pay for vehicles brought to them (about 20 quid) but not if they collect.

mrcheerful

Ho yus, 50 quid a tonne, but you have to take the wheels home with you.

Anglesey.

They used to round here, but recent Chinese appetite for steel has changed all that. Best prices are paid by steel reclamation yards rather than car dismantlers - i.e. crushers, not parts sellers.

If you take the plunger out of the solinoid and grind a couple of mm of the end of it you MIGHT get a little more travel. Sometimes works, depends on starter.

John

That's an interesting thought.

Thanks everyone for your useful replies. I've decided to try to flog the car as it is. I had loads of replies to my ad on the works intranet, so one of them may well be willing to put up with the intermittent fault. After all, for 150 quid for a car with nearly 13 months MOT and 3 months tax they can't expect absolute perfection!

I think must be a fairly common problem on older Micra's, as my mum's G-reg one does it, and so did a friends F-reg Micra. My mum's one has been doing it for the last 5 years or so, and although sometimes it takes 3 or 4 attempts for the starter to mesh, it always gets there in the end!

Ben.