Over the weekend I managed to fit the new Britpart starter motor...which wasn't straight-forward.
The old one was always a PITA to get in and out between the chassis rail and engine block. It would only 'just' go through, and even then only if you fitted it exactly the right way round. A bit like playing Jenga! The new one wouldn't fit through the access though.
Checking one against the other I found the new ones flange was very slightly bigger on two of the radii plus also had an additional unnecessary lump. I had to remove said lump and reduce each radius by 3mm. then it would go in. Still a PITA though. I probably wasted 2 hours struggling before I realised the motor assembly wasn't 'exactly' the same.
A good comment from someone on the S2 forum was to remove the LHS/nearside (if you drive on the correct side of the road) wing support bolted to the chassis rail/wing. This makes a perfect port to put the starter through. Saves all my swearing?
With the new motor installed it really starts a whole lot easier then the original ever did. Blip the button and Trig's Tdi fires every time...even without the glowplugs.
Did a 10 mile round trip dump run without any issue. Running sweet.
OH....DEAR..........
Monday morning SWMBO gave me the task of collecting a wendy house for our daughter on my way home. So Trig's had a job for the day. Both tanks were full so a 80 mile round trip including the office would not be a problem.
10 minutes into the trip as I joined the dual carriageway the engine cut out and the dash lights went dead. Luckily this happened as I reached a layby otherwise I would have been blocking lane 1 of the A303! As I stopped smoke started to waft from under the bonnet in the area of the starter motor.
I grabbed the fire extinguisher and carefully lifted the bonnet. Yep, definitely smoke ;) I jumped back in the cab and isolated the battery (useful to have a switch?).
As the smoke cleared I could see the reason for the engine cut-out and the smoke. The main supply cable to the truck electrics and jumped out of position and had welded itself to the exhaust manifold!
I decided at this point that maybe todays long trip wasn't really a go'er. I bent the now exposed cable away from the manifold into free air and tried the starter. Started fine. I just hope the dual batteries haven't been damaged by the huge current flow?
Drove back without issue (5 miles) and dropped the LR off at home. I isolated the battery and took another car from the fleet to make the office run.
Last night I stripped out the offending wiring. The 25mm cable from the starter to the starter button (supplies all the truck +12v bar the starter motor - melted and was the source of the smoke); Battery ground connection 16mm? - this has also melted; battery isolation switch - FUBAR'd.
Here's the state of the 25mm supply to the starter!
What this does show is that :-
1. You should tie the cables down firmly to avoid this (they have been fine for +2 years....but)
2. It pays big dividens to have a battery iso switch!
The 25mm cable from the battery to the starter survived so that can be reused and I have ordered the same CSA to replace the damaged cables. This and a new batt isolator came to <£20. It could have been A LOT more expensive?!
