DIY bate starter repair

The article describes in great detail with a photo accompaniment the process of repairing a starter on a VAZ 2110 car.

In a new car, breakdowns and malfunctions in the starter are rare. But if the car has served for more than 5 years, then problems may arise. The car owner himself can determine the malfunction of the starter - the car does not start, uncharacteristic sounds when starting the engine, the starter turns off spontaneously.

But many motorists do not pay attention to such signals from the car. And they bring the situation to the point that it is no longer possible to "save" the starter. But an experienced motorist who monitors his car, immediately, by the sound of a working car, will determine the malfunction of this part. So how do you fix a starter? Its repair takes place in several dozen stages described below.

1. First, you need to remove the starter from the car. Now we proceed to disassemble the part.

3. Disconnect the tire from the traction relay contact bolt.

4. Carefully remove the two bolts that hold the traction relay.

5. The traction relay must be removed from the starter.

6. Set aside the starter itself and remove the armature from the traction relay. To do this, lift it up and the anchor loop is released from the lever.

7. Now we return to the starter itself. Remove the tie rod nuts.

8. The next step is to remove the cover from the drive end with the gearbox and the same assembly part.

9. The cover must also be removed from the side of the collector with brushes and brush holders.

10. Then remove the gear from the anchor shaft.

11. Pull the anchor itself out of the starter.

12. The anchor shaft has a washer on the drive side (pay special attention to this).

13. Use a screwdriver or other thin object to remove the anchor shaft support.

14. Then use a small screwdriver to remove the two tie rods from the starter cover. In general, it is not necessary to remove them, if you are in a hurry, you can leave them, however, it is more convenient to remove the drive and gearbox without these pins.

15. Then remove the three gears of the reducer. A breakdown of the starter may consist precisely in the fact that these gears have damaged, broken teeth or needle bearings embedded in the gears. If this defect is present, then replace the parts and the starter will work again.

16. But, if the gears are in order, then continue to disassemble and check the starter for damage further. It is necessary to remove the gearbox with the drive from the cover, after pressing on the gear of the starter drive.

17. The support with the seal must be removed from the lever.

19. Use a hammer to knock the stop ring off the retaining ring using a suitable arbor.

20. Carefully remove the retaining ring first and then the stop ring.

21. Remove the actuator assembly from the drive shaft.

22. Unscrew the lever retaining ring.

23. Then remove the lever with washer and leash.

24. Use a screwdriver to unscrew the spring of the lever.

25. Now you can remove the lever from the liner, and separate the halves of the lever.

26. Remove the meshing gear retaining ring.

27. Next, disassemble the internal gear and remove the drive shaft support from the shaft.

28. Carefully remove the o-ring from the pore. Examine it carefully. A damaged, deformed, hardened ring will adversely affect the operation of the entire starter. It must be replaced.

29. The next step is to remove the insert from the support.

30. From the side of the collector, unscrew the two screws and remove the brush holder.

31. Using a screwdriver, pry off the brush clips.

32. Then remove these clips and their hold-down springs.Again, replace deformed or damaged parts, heavily compressed or bent, broken springs.

33. Pull the brushes out of the brush holder guides.

34. Uninsulated brushes must be removed.

35. Then remove the cardboard insulation strip. If it is damaged, compressed, torn, replace it with a new one.

36. Remove the insulated brushes with connecting rails.

37. Carefully and in detail inspect the anchor. Pay attention to the collector.

1. If the part is dirty, smoked, sand it with glass fine sandpaper. If traces of significant roughness are visible on it or mica protrudes strongly, grind the part on a lathe and then grind the collector with fine sandpaper.

2. If traces of yellow plaque from the bearing are visible on the anchor, then clean it with fine glass sandpaper, because later this can lead to jamming of the shaft gear. If there are dents or nicks on the surfaces of parts such as pins and shaft splines, replace the entire armature. Pay attention to the winding along the ends of the armature. If you see any flaws there, replace the anchor.

3. Check the reliability of soldering the leads of the armature winding to the collector plates.

38. Using a test lamp supplied with an alternating current of 220 V, check the condition of the armature winding. Connect the lamp voltage to the collector plate and the armature core. If everything is in order, the lamp should not be lit. If, nevertheless, it burns, then the anchor winding has closed. In this case, simply replace the starter armature with a new one.

39. While holding the overrunning clutch, turn the starter gear in both directions: clockwise the gear should move absolutely freely, and should not rotate counterclockwise at all. If something is broken, replace the drive.

40. Then put the starter drive onto the drive shaft. If everything is in order, then it should move freely, without jamming or stopping, along the splines of the shaft.

41. If you see that the drive parts are badly worn, deformed, damaged, replace the drive. If you find nicks on the winding end of the gear teeth, grind them with a fine-grained emery wheel. Choose a circle with a small diameter.

42. Inspect the bushings in which the shafts rotate. They are installed in the starter cover on the drive side, on the manifold side, the armature and drive shaft support. If bushings are deformed or scored, replace covers or supports with broken bushings. Cracked covers and supports should also be replaced.

43. Carefully inspect the starter itself, and if there are traces of anchor rubbing on it, replace the cover and intermediate support with a new one.

44. Worn brushes up to the size between the working surface and the terminal less than 3.5 mm, replace.

45. The brushes must move freely towards the brush holder. And the brush holder should not have cracks, chips, flaws. Check if this is so. If everything is in order, then proceed to the next stage of the repair. If there are faults, replace the parts.

46. ​​Begin inspection of the drive shaft. Its elements should not show signs of damage, severe wear and deformation. If there is plaque, remove it with fine glass sandpaper. Work carefully so as not to damage parts.

47. Using an ohmmeter, check if the contact plate closes the traction relay contact bolts. If they do not close, replace the parts or simply repair the relay.

48. To repair the relay:

• 1. Remove the two screws.
• 2. Unsolder the relay coils and terminals.
• 3. Then remove the cover and sand the pins and bolt heads with a sandpaper. The relay should be assembled in the reverse order.

49. Now proceed with the assembly of the starter. Before starting, lubricate the gear teeth with engine oil. Assemble the starter in reverse order.

50. Install the brush holder into the starter separately from the cover on the collector side.To assemble and install this part, use a bushing with a diameter (mark 1) equal to the diameter of the manifold (approximately 30 millimeters).

51. Install the assembled brush holder into the starter housing until it stops, then remove the bushing and install the cover on the starter from the collector side. The renovation is completed.

And your starter for a VAZ car is as good as new again!

Noticing the first signs of a malfunction, do not debug starter repairs on the back burner. Tightening with checking and restoring will lead to the fact that at one point the engine simply will not start. We will show in the video and tell you how to check the retractor relay, replace the brushes, starter bushings, in order to fix the breakdowns with our own hands and correctly assemble the car starter.

There are only 2 ways to check starter malfunctions: according to characteristic symptoms and according to the results of troubleshooting after disassembly. The main causes of breakdowns and their symptoms.

Without removing the starter from the car, you can reliably check only a poor contact and the fact of a malfunction of the control circuit of the retractor relay. If the starter does not respond when the key is turned to the Start position, use a screwdriver to bridge the power terminals of the solenoid relay directly. An operation of the starter will indicate a malfunction in the control circuit or the traction relay itself.

If you know how to use a multimeter, in the DC current measurement mode, check if the voltage comes to the control terminal after turning the ignition key to the Start position. If the voltage comes in, but the retractor does not work (there is no characteristic click), the traction relay needs to be repaired or replaced.

Before disassembling, we recommend that you study the device and the principle of operation of the car starter. Also, when repairing, it is important to understand the principle of operation and diagnostic methods of the retractor relay, starter bendix.

• Abrasion of brushes that wear out due to tight pressure on the rotating armature. Wear can be assessed visually or with a caliper. It is enough to compare the thickness of the new brushes with the worn out elements.
• Wear on collector plates. The brushes wear off much faster than the armature contact plates, but even after a few hundred thousand kilometers they can become unusable. The degree of wear is determined by the depth of the groove that results from friction with the brushes. If the brushes do not fit tightly at the moment of rotation of the armature, a spark discharge may appear, provoking burnout and further exfoliation of parts of the lamellas. Among other defects that arise as a result of beating and axial play of the armature shaft are ovality, displacement of the friction zone of the brushes.
• Violation of the insulation of the collector contacts, leading to a breakdown to the mass of the armature body; turn-to-turn closure.
• Worn bushings fixing the armature shaft. Critical depletion of bronze or copper-graphite bushings leads to the beating of the armature shaft, as a result of which the copper-graphite brushes fail much faster, and uneven wear of the collector is observed. Also, the wear of the bushings can cause displacement of the armature plates, which leads to turn-to-turn closure.
• Worn or incorrect selection of distance washers to prevent axial play of the armature shaft.
• Burnout of the contact plate of the solenoid relay. Burnout of the winding, turn-to-turn closure of the solenoid coil.
• Worn armature shaft gear.
• Removing magnets from the starter housing.
• Fracture of the terminal of the positive wire going from the power terminal of the retractor to the brush. Sometimes the terminals, due to their location in a place with an aggressive environment, corrode strongly.

Operations, which in most cases are limited to self-repairing a starter:

• replacement of the brush assembly. We have already considered how to replace the starter brushes with our own hands, so we will not dwell on this;
• cleaning the working area of ​​the collector with fine-grained emery paper;
• lubrication of the planetary gearbox, the armature shaft at the point of movement of the plug of the solenoid relay;
• complete cleaning of all parts from wear products of graphite brushes and collectors, dirt.

Many manufacturers do not provide for the repair and maintenance of the solenoid relay, so flare it to disassemble it. This can be done only for the purpose of cleaning with sandpaper or a file of the contact areas of the terminal bolts, plate. If a turn-to-turn short circuit or a breakdown on the case is detected, we recommend that you prefer to replace it with your own hands. We also find the idea of ​​repairing the collector lamellas and rewinding the starter armature very dubious. For widespread starter models, such a repair is simply unprofitable, since it is often easier to find a serviceable used part for disassembly or to buy a new launcher altogether.

• Before removing the terminals for repair or replacement of the starter, be sure to remove the terminal from the negative battery terminal.
• When checking the starter removed from the vehicle, fix it securely in a vice.
• Even to rotate the armature without engaging the flywheel crown, a considerable current is needed, therefore, when checking after repair, do not use thin wires and ensure reliable contact on the power terminals.
• You can find the tolerance limits for axial, radial play, and the minimum collector diameter in the technical documentation. Even before starting the repair, we recommend that you find out the model of the starter, which should be indicated in the identification marking on the body.
• When assembling, follow the sequence of installing the spacer washers to limit the axial play. In order to assemble the starter correctly after repairs with your own hands, mark and take photos during the disassembly process.
• Only the planetary gear unit needs to be lubricated. For these purposes, CV joint grease is well suited. Never lubricate the working surface of the copper-graphite bushings. The grease will collect dust, thus transforming into an abrasive paste.