[Mg-t] TD Starter problem

[mgbob at juno.com]

Hi Stu,   How are the brushes?    I can't imagine that they are worn out, but
they could be sticking in their guides.    With the starter on the workbench,
slide back the cover band,  lift the springs and feel how the brushes slide in
the guides.   You can use a soft brush to brush & blow out any carbon in the
starter. It's nasty black powder--wear gloves if you have them.    Also undo
and re-do the terminal nuts & washers.   Wire brush the area around the bolts
that fasten starter to engine, and the bolts too, then put on anti-seize
before re-installation.   With the starter on the bench, you could put a drop
of warm oil onto the bearing bush also,   With it on the bench, you can twist
the pinion and get a better idea of its operation than you could from my
description, making sure that there are no rust spots or buggers to impede the
pinion's movement. A touch of graphite might be in order.    It's a beautiful
day here, as it should be, since it's Monday. Temp is cold, though, 32 at the
moment, and forecast to drop to 15 tonight with wind. I am hoping that this is
the last bitter night of the season.Bob

---------- Original Message ----------
From: Stuart Keen <simbafish at comcast.net>
To: Lawrie <lawrie at britcars.com>, MG <mg-t at autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: [Mg-t] TD Starter problem
Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2012 15:05:30 -0500

I cleaned ALL cable contacts. They are all SHINY. No change to the
intermittent starter problem.

I took off the starter. The teeth look hardly used.

I had a friend crank over the engine (I took out the plugs to make it
easier) as I looked at the ring gear. I painted a white line so I would know
where I started. Went around the ring gear twice, first looking at the side
of the teeth, and then looking down into the teeth. Like Glenn MG Repair
said, ring gear is good. I find NO WEAR.

I will now inspect the brushes of the NEW starter.

If that does not give answers, then I  will put it all back together and
temporarily run a ground cable from the starter to the battery just in case
somewhere along the ground line, I have a problem. This should eliminate any
cable problem.

Anything else? I think I have covered everything, but open to suggestions.

Stuno.com