Starter on a 1999 Subaru Outback Legacy

My Outback has about 116K miles on it and in the last couple of weeks, I've been having trouble starting my car. When the get the key to the "Start" position, I can hear the relay clicking, but the motor does not start up. AFter a few trys, it might start up. The problem is intermittent though, as I have been able to start it twice this week

I am a novice, and my efforts to take the starter motor out were not successful. The nuts that mount the starter motor to the engine are too tight and I spent 3 hrs before giving up!

Does anyone know

1) If The starter is the probable culprit 2) Cost to get this changed at the mechanic? One of the guys I called said about $250-$300. Sounds like a lot, given that the starter itself is about $125 (from autozone). Maybe it is 2-3 hrs of labour

Thanks for your suggestions in advance.

Regards Ravi

Reply to
Ravi
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here's Ravi's last post ->:

I can't offer much except how old is your battery ie. how's it holding a charge and possibly need to clean battery connections and/or check if their loose. I would suspect and check the battery first.

Reply to
Buddy

Thanks Buddy,

The Voltage across the battery measured 12.63 V with the car turned off. How can I measure the th> here's Ravi's last post ->:

Reply to
Ravi

here's Ravi's last post ->:

Look at the battery connections. Do you see any greenish corrosion or whitish powder at the terminals? If yes, disconnect safely and clean with a proper wire brush the cable and then the battery terminal. Some cleaning can be done by scraping terminals with an old knife until shiny lead is seen. Use some dielectric grease (or vaseline if you have to) and wipe it on the surface of the contact between the battery terminal and cable clamp. Re-tighten.

If they look clean, wiggle the cable connections to the battery and see if either is loose. Tighten if necessary.

A battery might read 12.63 volts and still not have enough amps to turn over the starter, hence why I asked how old the battery is because after 5 years or so, the battery will naturally loose amp storing ability due to the plates inside getting covered with lead or zinc, I can't remember which.

How long have you had the car and did you ever replace the battery? Try jumping the car with another car when the problem occurs next time. If the starter turns well when being jumped, its not likely to be the culprit, your battery is. How that helps some.

Reply to
Buddy

Ravi,

First verify battery state of charge and capacity. If low charge - recharge. When at full charge load test - if fail, replace battery. If pass load test check voltage drops of starting circuit.

These urls should help.

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HTH, Greg in IN

Reply to
Greg in IN

Yes. It's the voltage while cranking that matters :-)

If Buddy's tips don't help, suspect the starter relay itself. The contacts could be burnt. But the battery is most likely, followed by bad connections, at least a hundred times more likely.

Reply to
Clifford Heath

Just as a datapoint, we also have a 1999 OBW, and this summer we finally changed out the battery because the car would not start a couple times. It was the factory battery!!! The car now has 96k miles on it. We thought the problem might be the starter, but we decided to try the battery first, and now all is well.

Reply to
KLS

Quick and easy test: Park another car nearby and connect batteries with jumper cables. See if your car will now start. If so, the trouble is with your battery. Otherwise, not.

Reply to
Uncle Ben

This is a classic problem on cars (Japanese and some American) using Nippon Denso starters. The symptoms are widely reported. In a pinch you can probablyh get the car started by hitting on the starter with a block of wood or something like while someone else is turning the key back and forth. Or if you are lucky you just turn the key back and forth and one time the solenoid will make contact. The solenoid contacts are very soft copper, which makes a good contact. But over time it gets beaten down to be too thin for the moving contact to reach the stationary ones. The good news is that it is easy to fix if you can work on electrical stuff. Subaru does not sell the solenoid separately, just the whole starter for lots of bucks, the last time I checked. You said you have trouble getting the bolts off. What tools are you using? You will definitely want to get on there with box wrenches, not open ends. I have not had a problem other than that the area is very crowded. But if you take off the starter you will be able to see how to take off the solenoid, and it is pretty easy to disassemble. The two stationary contacts officially should be replaced: I have seen them sometimes on ebay. But I have rebuilt them quite a few times, for Subys and Toyotas and for that matter Plymouths and Dodges. I do have a milling machine, that helps, but I did this before I had a milling machine just using a Dremel mototool. You will see that the copper has been beaten down thin. You need to machine a flat surface on it, then solder on some good solid copper, ideally a little harder than the original. If I could not find copper sheet (maybe 3/32" thick) around I have used anything handy. I know I soldered a copper penny into one. On another I flattened out a piece cut from some copper pipe and used that. After the new metal is well soldered in (has to be very strong joint!) you machine away the extra so the contact is back to its original shape. If you can find a good old shop that specializes in repairing starters and generators/alternators, they can surely fix it. But they seem to have largely disappeared, mechanics just replace the starter. If you search the web you will find that Nippon Denso solenoids go out about every 120K miles or so. I think most people just replace the starter, but you can save a lot of money if you just rebuild the contacts. Bob Wilson

----- Original Message ----- From: "Ravi" Newsgroups: alt.autos.subaru Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 11:51 AM Subject: Starter on a 1999 Subaru Outback Legacy

Reply to
Robert L Wilson

The problem is a worn contact on the positive battery cable side of the starter solenoid. It is a common problem on all gear reductions starters. You can get the contact at any Napa store for about six bucks (or from any Toyota dealership for twelve).

Nate

Clifford Heath wrote:

Reply to
Nathan

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