Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Starter motor sticking

Tried to start the (2009) sigma engines 4/4 am and it just clicked every time I turned the ignition until go three and then it fired up. Battery is fine. Always on a trickle charger. Is this a starter motor issue? Would it be just sticking and needs a bash of a mallet or would it be a terminal starter motor issue?

Regards

Garret

If you still have the original battery, the battery may be the cause.
Harald

If it is just sticking put it into 2ND gear and give it a good hard shove both ways ( get to help )better if you are on a bit of camber . It may be the bendix and may jerk it out . Or try another good battery ( 2nd car ) may need the extra power to flip it away you never know till you try.

Don't condem the starter and start ripping bits off before you check the earths, one of the most common causes of this kind of failure. But first make sure your battery clamps are tight! A loose clamp can cause the same problem. If you have access to jump leads checking the earth return is simple, first using just one side of your jump leads put one clamp on the engine, clamped onto the bell housing is good, next put the other end to a clean part of the chassis. Does the car start now? If so the engine to chassis earth strap is suspect, simple fix is to buy another and add it between the bell housing and a chassis bolt, you can have as many earth straps as you like don't worry about adding one more. If that does not work do the same procedure between the battery earth terminal and the chassis, if that cures it then the battery to chassis eart strap is suspect.

After all this it's time to ensure the starter wires are all tight then the block connector on the steering column where the main ignition switch connects to the harness, sometimes pushing them together pushes out the corresponding terminal. All these tests will help track down the cause of the fault. Hope that helps.

If the bash trick works.

Then remove starter and clean shaft that the bendix gear throws out on it is likely that it is covered in clutch dust.

Just use brake and clutch cleaner on it.

Absolutely. The symptoms sound very like an earth or other supply fault. Starter motors take a lot of current and although Ohms law still applies, when metered high current circuits can lead you to think they're ok, and if the circuit carried only 1 amp, it might be. Starter motors take in excess of 100 amps!

Similar problem to my Roadster in December. Battery appeared fully charged but in fact one of the cells had given up and it was giving out about 10 volts.

Many thanks for all the advice! I will checklist all the advice given.

With regards

G

Try battery.I had same problem.battery showing full charge but just clicking!
Then it would start.
New battery solved the problem.