FTO AUSTRALIA

Hi guys searched to see if you had anything on removing and fixing the starter motor so I thought I should write one up. : )

Safety first - disconnect the battery.



First you need to get under the car and remove the electrical connections from the starter.
Then undo the first bolt marked in red it is in a bit of a hard place to get to with a socket and the other one is on the other side of the cross member.
The starter motor should then come out with a little bit of jiggling. .

Once you have it out the best thing to do would be to give it a good clean as it just make it easier.



Now it’s out and clean you need to take it apart and see what’s going on inside.



Undo the screws and bolts shown and the rest of it can just be pulled apart.



So here is the inside I marked the location of all the bushes with a red dot and as you can see two of them are gone and i only have one good one left. You can go down to any good spare parts store and pick up some new bushes for a maximum of $20 mine cost $12, (oh and don’t bother with Mitsubishi or at least the one near me as apparently Mitsubishi have never made an FTO lol)
Take out the old bushes and give the inside of the starter a clean the new bushes will need to be soldered into place. If you continue to dismantle the starter you will find three little gears and while you are here you might as well give them a bit of grease, just put everything back together and you’re done just do what I have shown you in reverse to get it back in.

So for the cost of $12 you just saved your starter and that’s pretty good as the cheapest one I could find online was about $130.

4 posts and you have already created a DIY

Nice one!

well done mate! good thread!

Are bushes all the same, or do you need to get a specific type? What did you use to clean the insides?

I’m not sure i just went to my local supercheap and told the guy what i wanted and he just said "yep no worries here you go" i put them in and they work lol. I don’t see why it would matter as they would all do the same job. To clean the inside i just used a few clean rags i didn’t do an all-out clean just got rid of the build ups and then regreased the moving parts.

Very nice!

I need to do this too

Nice post mate! Good work

What grease did you use?

Confused as to why no part numbers etc?

I went to a couple of local shops and they all said nadda, would need to know brand of starter etc before they could give some bushes as there are a few different types.

So anyone got part numbers or a brand etc???

While on the topic...
My starter motor also has an issue.
When I turn the key it won't crank. However if I feed a direct 12V to it, it will crank and start the car.
From what I gather by reading, it's the solenoid on it which is faulty.

Does this sound right?
Is the solenoid repairable/replaceable, or do I need a new starter?

Same as what happened to me. Solenoid is f*cked/stuck/worn out.

Eh I just got a new starter motor.

Do you know if you can fix it?
I mean, $130 for a new starter motor Vs maybe a $10 part...

spetz wrote:Do you know if you can fix it?
I mean, $130 for a new starter motor Vs maybe a $10 part...

Good question, not sure. I guess it depends exactly whats wrong with it.

I got my starter motor off dstocks for I think it was $65 + postage, but that was used. Not really an issue to me as Im selling the car but yeah, if you dont mind a used part, dwayne might have one or two.

For a wear item like a starter motor I would always prefer to buy new, unless the price difference was substantial

Hopefully someone can shine some light on the matter for us

spetz wrote:For a wear item like a starter motor I would always prefer to buy new, unless the price difference was substantial

Hopefully someone can shine some light on the matter for us

Point. I feel the same way. Only reason I didnt buy new is that Im selling mine so meh!

May be a dumb question but if its like a stuck solenoid.. can you just open up the starter and unstick it...?

Would it not be similar to just tapping the starter motor to unstick it, except it gets properly freed?

If you tap it too much all the magnets will start to crack and fall apart and cause more damage.

I bashed mine for about a month until it died, pulled it apart and it was a crumbly mess inside

silverGPX wrote:If you tap it too much all the magnets will start to crack and fall apart and cause more damage.

I bashed mine for about a month until it died, pulled it apart and it was a crumbly mess inside

Is it possible to open it up far enough to manually free it properly?

The solenoid is separate to the motor/magnets.
I was reading that solenoid issues are common in older VW's and they repair them. Not sure if this would transfer over to our starter motors too though