Hi all, this isn't actually about a car - it's a starter on a generator.
My symptom is this (and it's intermittent):
sometimes - the starter turns, but the pinion is very slow against the resistance of the engine and doesn't turn it over. I can hear the starter spinning internally... also high heat at the positive terminal of starter (visible smoke). Other times, it turns over fine.
I always assumed the armature and pinion were all one piece, but apparently there are three different designs, one of which seems to have a kind of clutch mechanism... so presumably this "clutch" part is slipping.
I'll know more when I've stripped it down.
This genny is over 12 years old and has done a hell of a lot of work as I live off-grid -- in the winter it's often run every other day for 4 - 8 hours, and this is the first bit of trouble Ive had with the starter... it's a Hitachi and came with the machine when new. Quite impressive really, I think the genny has over 6000 hours (last time I looked).
Anyway... chances are I may have to at least replace the armature assembly (I do have a spare lying around), but just wondering if anyone here has had this kind of problem before and whether there's any outside chance of an easy fix to the existing starter?
Cheers.
My symptom is this (and it's intermittent):
sometimes - the starter turns, but the pinion is very slow against the resistance of the engine and doesn't turn it over. I can hear the starter spinning internally... also high heat at the positive terminal of starter (visible smoke). Other times, it turns over fine.
I always assumed the armature and pinion were all one piece, but apparently there are three different designs, one of which seems to have a kind of clutch mechanism... so presumably this "clutch" part is slipping.
I'll know more when I've stripped it down.
This genny is over 12 years old and has done a hell of a lot of work as I live off-grid -- in the winter it's often run every other day for 4 - 8 hours, and this is the first bit of trouble Ive had with the starter... it's a Hitachi and came with the machine when new. Quite impressive really, I think the genny has over 6000 hours (last time I looked).
Anyway... chances are I may have to at least replace the armature assembly (I do have a spare lying around), but just wondering if anyone here has had this kind of problem before and whether there's any outside chance of an easy fix to the existing starter?
Cheers.