Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing 1990 Plus 4 Rover M16

Five days suggests by air and that starter will be very heavy & therefore expensive.

£60

Starter motors seem not to be too high tec for folk with a degree of mechanical aptitude, and I ever looked upon them as servicable items. also basic testing seems none to difficult..? I guess the world has moved on to a stage where fewer folk repair anything...

Actually I just overhauled one for a light 12 Austin, new bushes, brushes, cleaned and commutator skimmed. Got another to do now, as you say easy enough.

Ross, what symptoms are you having?
Common ones are sluggish turning the engine usually due to bad earth and/or battery.
Can you hear a cluck to indicate the solenoid is working? Does tapping the solenoid body with a piece of wood release a sticking solenoid?
DIY servicing is reasonably straight forward to fit new brushes and clean the commutator.
I am sure there are auto electrical businesses you could go to for checks/refurb rather than import. That would be a last resort if the starter is knackered beyond repair.

Many thanks for all the feedback,especially Rob Davies offer.
Starter for M16 engine is different to T16(M16 has a two bolt flange, not three).

Original issue was that starter jammed engaged and subsequently became very hot before I could get battery disconnected.
I have removed the starter and had it checked over by auto electrician, other than signs of excessive heat, there was no apparent damage to the windings and insulation.
Reinstalled and all seems ok now.
My main concern as I expressed earlier was the complete lack of available parts here in Australia as this engine (M16) did not come to Aussie in any production vehicle, and if parts were required I would have to source from UK- I was just trying to get ahead of the game if a rebuild/parts were needed, or source a complete new one.

Again, many thanks.
Ross

I have zero experience with any M16 engined Morgan, though note you typed that the starter did not disengage after the engine fired up..?

That being the case there is just a chance if it uses a relay in the circuit to supply the solenoid mounted on the starter with power, then as happened in my +8 the relay contacts can burn a bit over time and thus intermittently stick closed/on, causing the starter run on you describe. If that might be what happened to your Morgan, then replacement of the relay (if fitted) might be worthwhile insurance..?

Just thinking in type.

Ross, I have had a similar problem with a starter on a Rover K series engine fitted to a Caterham. When the engine was hot, the starter would engage and then jam. Leave it to cool down for a few minutes and it worked fine again. Being fitted close up under the exhaust manifold, a cooked starter is the usual issue.

However, it turned out that on mine the starter was not mounted exactly square to the flywheel, this out of true position was exacerbated when hot causing the pinion to lock on the ring gear. I think it was the engine mounting flange that was out of true, as I recall they found the new starter was doing the same thing until the flange was trued up. Then good bye starter blues. Hope your starter problems get sorted out OK.