How to Change a Starter Motor

[stato 5.7]

your dead right mate, piece of piss ,picked up one from wreckers $66, jacked up left hand side undid the 2 vertical bolts slid it out over the steering arm, took 10 mins for the whole removal/replacement no need to unbolt any manifolds or steering components, good on ya fella!! .ps.was working on a vt with a bosch unit for those frowning

 

[mpower]

few years back I did a starter on my V6 VTII and just did it from underneath without removing anything else - I'm reading this thread wondering about the removal of steering racks and manifolds, etc.

 

[concept101]

Hi, I'm trying to do the starter on a VS series 2 exec and there is a mount connected to the transmission in the way of the one of the bolts and I can't get a spanner to it. It seemed as I was undoing the bolts on the mount oil was beginning to leak from it and I can't seem to find any info about it anywhere. Anyone have any insight to this?

so i have the same problem with my vs auto.. just went underneath it to undo 2 bolts from what the manual says... get there and it has a mount covering 1 of the bolts... is this where i use a 13mm ring spanner?

Also, im pretty sure but just wanted to stir everyone..lol.. cana vs starter motor fit on a vt??????
thanks in advance!

 

[Demonica]

few years back I did a starter on my V6 VTII and just did it from underneath without removing anything else - I'm reading this thread wondering about the removal of steering racks and manifolds, etc.

Errrr yeah, I've had to do it on the V8 and past V6s and never taken off a manifold or steering rack. On the V8 I had to unbolt the bottom of my extractors to get mine out. V6 is supposed to be straight out, nothing in the way.

Sent from my HTC One

 

[mpower]

Errrr yeah, I've had to do it on the V8 and past V6s and never taken off a manifold or steering rack. On the V8 I had to unbolt the bottom of my extractors to get mine out. V6 is supposed to be straight out, nothing in the way.

Sent from my HTC One

at the time I didn't even know what I was doing as I'd never pulled a starter off the V6 before so it was all trial and error - without the error.

I'd removed starters from other vehicles but not the V6. It was just wiring, bolts, remove/replace easy as.

 

[johnkx991]

I just did the starter motor on my son's VS 3.8L auto ... thanks for the original post giving the info for how to remove the starter motor .. some extra info for the other first timers , from what I observed..

1. I thought I'd try to see if I could get the starter motor out without undoing the exhaust manifold .... didn't work.. there just wasn't enough room ... it needs another cm or so of clearance to get the starter motor out. After much use of newly invented adjectives, I decided to undo the exhaust manifold and it came out easily & the new one slipped back in easily. Allow about an hour to get the starter motor out ... it took me longer than this because of the earlier comments about people having theirs come straight out without needing to undo anything else ... I was the optimist ... you may be lucky but be prepared to loosen the exhaust system.

The option of undoing the steering rack was also mentioned. I chose to not do this .. I looked at it and thought about giving a go.. The 2 nuts I thought that would need to be loosened seemed to be 18 or 19mm and seemed to be on very tight. I wasn't sure I could get them undone and if I could, if I get do them up tight enough later. I was just working at home with the car up on stands, so there wasn't a huge amount of room underneath to get a grip on things + I haven't had much experience with steering gear so I thought it best to stick with what I knew ( have made some costly mistakes in the past using this approach , but I've learned a lot ... !!! )

2. The original instructions didn't mention it explicitly but there is a support bracket directly under the starter motor (on the VS v6 ) covering up one of the bolts.
You'll need to remove this bracket. There's 3 x 13mm bolts. This is where you'll need the LONG socket extension handle (approx. 40cm in length ) + the 13mm socket to get to 2 of the 3 bolts. You get access to the bolts by coming in from the passenger side of the car.
Once you've taken off this bracket, it's very easy to get to the 2 x (15mm socket ) bolts holding the starter motor in. The bolts insert vertically from underneath.

3. Exhaust pipe clearance - the original instructions mentioned taking off the exhaust manifold. Another potential option would be to undo the 2 x exhaust pipe nuts holding the exhaust pipe onto the exhaust manifold. I didn't do this but its an option. As the original writer said, soak these in wd40 first ... if you break the bolts/ studs or strip them, you'll have a lot more work to fix them.
I undid the exhaust manifold studs. There are 6 of them .. KEEP TRACK of what's attached to them ... there is a bracket for holding the spark plug leads off the block and a bracket for the oil dipstick. These each mount onto different exhaust pipe studs.

I'd suggest you write down where these are attached too before you start unbolting things ... I didn't & had to guess where they went back.

The exhaust manifold nuts are 13mm. I found it easiest to get to them with a 13mm ring and then went out and bought a ratchet ring set ... SO much easier to work with them in the tight space ..

hope this is of use ...

john

 

[sock]

Replaced my starter motor in the Repco carpark in ten mins with a pissed off missus,two fighting pre-teen kids,a 8x5 box trailer full of steel and in the middle of summer.No need to remove anything except two bolts and a wire/cable on v6 comma.

 

[Shaneod]

Hey guys thanks for all the great tips. I have a 98 vt v6 commodore and I got a starter motor from the wreckers today for $50. Took off the old one no problem (it was working but I was told by a mechanic that it sounded like it was on the way out) and slotted in the wrecker's one but now nothing happens when I turn the key except for a click down behind the starter motor. You guys reckon they sold me a lemon? Any ideas? The wire that slots/clips on (not the one that bolts on) was a bit rough so I put a new connected on and it looked fine. I will put the old one back on tomorrow to see if it works and if it does then at least I know it is the wrecker's one. Thanks!

 

[Immortality]

Sounds like a dud starter motor to me.

Just read back through this thread, some seem to do this easy, others not. From what I have seen there are a couple of different starter motors on the various V6 engines. Some the big and bulky type and others that look more like a modern reduction type starter.

The other big factor that no-one's mentioned are the engine mounts. If they are sagging badly it does reduce the amount of room available to remove the starter motor.

On my old VH 308 with tri-y type extractors, after putting the car up on engine stands, I put a jack with a block of wood under the sump, jack it up to take the engine weight and then remover the passenger side engine mount through bolt and jack the engine up just a bit more which seems to give enough clearance to remove the standard type starter motor. If that doesn't work then remove the drivers side engine mount bolt and that will give plenty of room to lift the engine, just make sure you don't jack the engine up to far and force the dizzy against the firewall.

 

[Jay67]

I just finished changing the starter motor on my VT Acclaim....99 model. AND i didn't have to do any of the stuff mentioned here..... the starter motor came out past the steering rack and the header's without having to remove any of them. And it took a total of about 45 minutes, and that includes jacking up and putting stand's under the car. And NO, i am not a mechanic.