What's wrong with this starter motor?

[rustychain]

I've been gifted a second hand starter motor by a fellow forum member.

I've stripped it down and found what I think are magnet fragments in the grease of the planetary gears - see photo.

It's a Valeo D6RA15. The magnets are held in with clips and appear to be in place.

There's also what looks like some arcing on the shield - see photo. Any idea what would cause that?

I've not removed the armature yet.

The carbon brushes are less than half worn.

Thoughts on what's wrong would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[DrFarkoff]

That shield should be covering reduction gearbox for the Armature

Its shorted across the wires because it is not mean to be there !!

It is supposed to be fitted in the back part of the gearbox and not able to escape

as long as you have no broken teeth that reduction box should be fine

Clean. "LIGHTLY" Grease and Fit the shield and reassemble and test

 

[Ian J Hartley]

A well documented failure, listed at the top of the section under “850/1100/1150 Oilhead info & Tips”

A brilliant thread posted along time ago by the late Mike P.

Here for posterity.

https://www.ukgser.com/community/threads/starter-strip.130644/

 

[rustychain]

That shield should be covering reduction gearbox for the Armature

Its shorted across the wires because it is not mean to be there !!

It is supposed to be fitted in the back part of the gearbox and not able to escape

as long as you have no broken teeth that reduction box should be fine

Clean. "LIGHTLY" Grease and Fit the shield and reassemble and test

Thanks DrF - will give that a try this weekend

 

[rustychain]

A well documented failure, listed at the top of the section under “850/1100/1150 Oilhead info & Tips”

A brilliant thread posted along time ago by the late Mike P.

Here for posterity.

https://www.ukgser.com/community/threads/starter-strip.130644/

Thanks Ian for sharing, now I know how to strip it down further.

 

[rustychain]

as long as you have no broken teeth that reduction box should be fine

Clean. "LIGHTLY" Grease and Fit the shield and reassemble and test

I've now fully stripped the motor.

The magnets are fixed in place, no issues there.

However, the plastic teeth on the outer edge of the reduction box are completely gone - that's what I found floating about in the planetary gears.

What would have caused this?

 

[Ian J Hartley]

I've now fully stripped the motor.

The magnets are fixed in place, no issues there.

However, the plastic teeth on the outer edge of the reduction box are completely gone - that's what I found floating about in the planetary gears.

What would have caused this?

It’s hard to tell from the pictures, but as the grease plate has been dislodged, I would hazard a guess that all the grease around the planetary gears has been lost causing the gears to run dry to their destruction.

 

[rustychain]

Thanks Ian.

There was grease in there, I've just cleaned it up a bit to remove the debris of the broken plastic teeth.

The plastic was in large chunks rather than small, fine pieces. This makes me think it was a catastrophic failure - maybe the armature got stuck in the engaged position with the engine running which has ripped the teeth out?

Either way, the thing is toast.

I'll hold onto the main body as the magnets are solid and may come in use.