Common starter faults
Thanks to the starter, the car engine starts. It receives power from the battery. If the starter does not work or rotates at low speeds, you should check the battery and wiring.
Starter connection diagram
The following malfunctions are possible:
- battery is low;
- the terminals are poorly secured or the contacts on the battery have oxidized;
- poor contact on the solenoid relay;
- damage to the electrical network in the area between the starter and the battery;
- The contact group of the ignition system does not work.
If the starter does not turn on, the cause may be a faulty relay or a short circuit in the windings of the device itself. If, when the armature rotates, the crankshaft does not rotate, it is possible that the clutch is slipping or the screw thread drive is running tight.
It is possible that the engine starts, but the starter does not turn off; in this case, there may be several reasons:
- bearing wear;
- wires jam on the shaft;
- jamming in the ignition switch.
Failures are eliminated by replacing faulty parts. If the drive gear becomes disengaged, extraneous noise may appear during operation of the trigger mechanism (video author: Irina Kuzilova).
Since the starter experiences heavy loads when turning the shaft and starting the piston group of the power unit, it should be regularly diagnosed to identify malfunctions.
Proven ways to close the starter directly: recommendations from the pros
Starter connection diagram
No less efficient and even more reliable, but you need another machine more powerful than your car. It will be enough to tow the vehicle for a short distance, and then start the engine in the same manner as described above. In this case, I would like to give a couple of practical tips:
- Do not turn off the car after it has started and then go straight to the service center;
- Do not forget that after starting the car, it will pick up speed if it is in second gear and you press the accelerator pedal;
- Don’t forget that after starting, the car towing you will stop. Therefore, you will need to have time to slow down.
Read more: Rating of the TOP 7 best rust converters for cars
Important! This method is not suitable for vehicles equipped with an automatic transmission, since due to certain features of its design, towing the vehicle is strictly contraindicated.
To implement this method, you will need a tow rope and another car. It is extremely important to strictly follow the following sequence of actions during towing:
- the leading machine should start moving smoothly and start moving at low speed to tension the cable;
- the driver of a towed car should not brake sharply;
- after the vehicle starts, it will begin to accelerate sharply;
- you should stop only after the leading car stops;
- Do not turn off the engine while unhooking the cable, otherwise it may not start, and towing will be required again.
What is the best way to close the starter - a screwdriver, a wrench or a pry bar? Let us note right away that a mount is an option for a rainy day when you don’t have a screwdriver or a key at hand. As a rule, a screwdriver and a wrench help in cases where the relay is faulty. The characteristic clicks coming from under the hood when turning the key in the ignition are full confirmation of this.
The Bendix gear is not able to turn the crankshaft because the relay does not provide enough energy. It remains to close the starter, giving voltage directly to the windings. As mentioned above, it is advisable to arm yourself with a large screwdriver or wrench that would reach both power terminals of the relay in order to bridge them.
Don’t forget to set the gearbox lever to idle and tighten the handbrake all the way. The key in the ignition switch must be turned half a turn so that the corresponding lights on the instrument panel come on. A screwdriver attached to the terminals in this case works like the relay itself. The method, as we see, is not tricky.
But you must always be on your guard. The fact is that you can damage the coil. It easily fails if you do this several times in a row. It’s just that on classic contact systems the coil does not have the appropriate protection, as on non-contact systems. To protect the coil from burning out, it is recommended to do the following:
- Ask the assistant to get into the car;
- Have him put the ignition key in the ignition position while you close the contact.
A very common problem in VAZ cars is that the car suddenly stops starting, the starter does not respond to the key. Let's try to close the starter directly. Let's fix the car on
, put the box in the “neutral” position. Open the hood and remove it for convenience
and we see the starter contacts.
The starter was closed directly, and after that, as you can see, the car started up instantly. This method will help you start your car when diagnostics and repairs are not possible. There can be many reasons for such a breakdown, we will not dwell on them, we will do a separate lesson later in which the problem will be examined in more detail. For those who don’t understand how to close the starter directly using our picture, watch the video below, it’s very simple.
After you closed the starter directly, the car started, then you turned it off again. You can try to start it again with the key, in most cases you will succeed, this is what happened with us.
Most car owners are aware of an unexpected situation when the vehicle engine does not start. Usually, the starting device is to blame, so it would be a good idea for the driver to know how to close the starter directly to start the car. Before performing the procedure, you need to learn to distinguish all the breakdowns of this unit that will require closing the starter, and become familiar with the methods for diagnosing them.
Symptoms and causes of high current consumption when turning on the starter
To start the engine, the battery needs to supply a certain amount of current to the starter, the supply of which is not infinite and is consumed with each cranking of the device.
When the starter is fully operational, the battery is fully charged, and the connections of all systems are securely tightened, the car will start with a half turn. However, if there is any failure of one of the mentioned components, the starter begins to malfunction and consumes more current when starting.
If the brightness of the lights and indicators decreases when you turn the ignition key, this indicates excessive energy consumption by the starter.
The reasons for such overload may be:
- increased mechanical resistance;
- insufficient contact between electrical wiring and ignition system components;
- reduced electrical resistance.
Signs of a problem starting the engine
Any malfunction has a number of specific symptoms. Thanks to them, it is possible to more quickly find the cause of a possible breakdown. “ gluttonous” starter is no exception.
The most typical signs that the starter is taking on a lot of current are:
- dimming of headlights and instrument panel lighting when starting the engine;
- difficult rotation of the crankshaft;
- increased heating of the starter housing;
- characteristic smell of burnt insulation.
Self-diagnosis
In order to find the cause of a mechanism malfunction, you need to understand how it works, know how the starter is connected, and how to check all its elements for serviceability.
Trigger mechanism
The device consists of a large number of parts, but its basis is made up of:
- electric motor;
- bendix;
- solenoid relay.
With the help of an electric motor, the energy received from the battery at start is transferred through the gear to the engine crankshaft. The starter is an electromechanical device, so it can have both mechanical and electrical faults.
Other ways[ | ]
Towing a vehicle[ | ]
A car (like a motorcycle) with a manual transmission can be started by towing it with another car (or pushing it by hand, this is called “push starting”), or by rolling it down an inclined road with the clutch disengaged. After reaching a certain speed, the clutch is engaged. However, with this method there is a high probability of damage to the chassis, which is higher the lower the gear is engaged; In the operating manuals of many cars there is a ban on such starting. Manufacturers also do not recommend this starting method for cars equipped with catalytic converters due to the possibility of unburned fuel entering the catalyst, followed by overheating and failure. As a rule, it is impossible to start a car with an automatic transmission in this way. The torque converter is filled with hydraulic fluid only when the engine is running and torque will not be transmitted from the wheels to the automatic transmission. An exception is the LiAZ-677 bus, whose automatic transmission contains two oil pumps, one of which operates from the output shaft of the box and, when towing the bus, is capable of creating pressure sufficient to turn on the hydraulic couplings and lock the differential.
"Alone"[ | ]
A variation of the first method is the manual untwisting of one of the driving wheels of the car (for example, using a wound cable), previously suspended using a jack with one of the top gears engaged; gloves must be used to protect the hands. The main feature of the method is the ability to start the engine by the driver alone. The other wheel is on the ground, but rotation will not be transmitted to it thanks to the differential.
“Lighting up”[ | ]
Main article: Lighting up
When the battery is low, you can connect to the battery of another car (this is called “lighting”). It is recommended to do this with the engine of another car not running, so that its electronic system does not fail. The operation makes sense if the starting engine is in good working order.
Flywheel[ | ]
To start the engine after a short shutdown, a flywheel-drive was proposed: spun by the engine while moving, it then allows the engine to be started without draining the battery.
In aviation and other areas, an inertial starter with preliminary spinning of the flywheel by hand through a gearbox or from a low-power electric or pneumatic motor has found significant use. A manual inertial starter made it possible to start engines with a power of several hundred hp using one or two people. With. no decompression; in particular, such a starter was supplemented with the launch system of the famous German Tiger and Panther tanks.
Autorotation launch[ | ]
Starting aircraft piston and gas turbine engines is possible in flight during autorotation. The incoming flow spins the engine shaft through the propeller or turbine, and the shaft speed increases enough to ensure starting. Autorotation starting is the only way to start the engine in flight if the starting system fails.
What to do when the starter takes on a lot of starting current
There is no universal solution. It all depends on the root causes of the failure.
Most often, it is enough to clean the contacts of the electrical circuit, removing oxidation and dirt from them.
If nothing has changed, then you should pay attention to the brush assembly, contacts inside the starter or traction relay. If necessary, clean the indicated areas.
Mechanical problems may include the following:
- starter malfunction - wear of bushings and jamming of moving elements;
- resistance of the crankshaft of the power unit due to increased viscosity of the engine oil, incorrect selection of crankshaft liners, and unprofessional repair of the internal combustion engine.
Also, the cause of excessive current consumption by the starter can be a short circuit (to the housing or interturn).
To diagnose the starter, find problems and properly eliminate them, we recommend contacting a specialized car service center in your city.
