Starter motor problems with '95 Liberty

Please forgive my ignorance... But am trying to solve a drama in our 95 liberty. If this little beastie aka quad coil pack was in the death throws, would it make a clicking noise and not start.... Then start if you jump start the car.... Or ... If you have the Subaru "touch" if you give the key a vigorous wiggle in the ignition start like there was never a problem in the first place?

Gidday S2

Making "Clicking sounds" sounds like the starter solenoid may be cactus.

Another possibility is that the solenoid is stuck in the engaged position.

Is it a manual?

If it is a manual, and you rock the car back and forth in (say) second gear, will it start then?

If this is the case, chances are that either the solenoid that engages the starter motor gear with the ring gear on the flywheel is dirty or defective. It could be a broken return spring on the starter motor gear, for example.

Being able to start with a second battery connected could indicate that the normal starting battery cannot supply sufficient amps to turn the starter motor when its gear is engaged with the flywheel, but two batteries can. Lock torque on a 4 cylinder engine is around 450-550 amps ... .

+1 to starter motor or solenoid

Had the battery checked.. It's fine. Scooby is manual... It is an electrical problem of some sort... Just gotta sort out exactly what. It intermittently has no instrument panel lights. Sorry pigsti for getting off topic... Thanks ratbag for your thoughts, and Kevin... If you carry a spare... What symptom makes you change it?

Best regards

S2, a further possibility with a car this age is having dirty starter motor to block/chassis earth terminal. Usually, but not always, at the chassis end.

Ditto for the battery to chassis/block earths.

Visual inspection is usually not sufficient to detect this.

Remove each of them to see if there is rust or other muck interfering with the current flow.

Clean all surfaces with fine wet and dry paper (100 to 180 grit), or dress them with a file to rough clean them first, if necessary.

Apply Vaseline to the mating surfaces of all components and reassemble tightly.

While you are up to your armpits in there, you may as well check the supply side connections as well ... :iconwink:. Treat them likewise.

These terminations can look absolutely fine externally. It's only when you get them apart that the resistance causing problem becomes abundantly obvious.

If the starter motor solenoid is dodgy, and it's not a broken return spring, chances are that meticulously cleaning and lightly oiling the spirally turned engagement shaft will fix the problem. However, I'm not even sure that one can get at this part in modern cars ...

Just moved these posts to their own thread folks.

Came from here:
https://www.offroadsubarus.com/showthread.php?t=4981

Wow! Thank you Luva if the Nacha for that link! And also Ratbag for your thoughts.. Now we can do some more investigations. Very very much appreciated

Ok. What I didn't mention ... On first inspection... We removed a cockroach corpse from between the copper wires in the alternator. There may have been one limb that could not be retrieved..... So. Then she saw the auto electrician. A little bit of post cockroach driving, but no definitive answer. Then she saw Russell and he used his magic Subaru touch and she came to life. Now today ... Armed with all of this wonderful information, we went to try and solve this puzzling problem. She started. No hint of a problem! So now my question is... Could a deceased cockroach in the alternator cause scooby s electrical problems?

^ Extremely unlikely.

Has the Liberty got an engine immobiliser?

If so, remove the key and immobiliser from in amongst all the crap that you undoubtedly have on your car key rings, as all the rest of us have, and put them on a separate keyring.

It is mentioned in the Owner's Manual that this can cause starting problems with cars fitted with an immobiliser system (so can parking too close to radio transmission towers ... ).

Having said all that, my "keyring" (series of ... ) weighs in at around 175-200 grams. Whole lots of metal stuff apart from the many keys (30 mm diameter coin shaped paring knife and screw driver, to name but one such ... :iconwink, and I have never had a problem with either Roo2 or RonnyRoo.

Still worth a try.

Your symptoms do sound like earth issues to me, I had similar.

Some times I would have nothing, other times just enough for a click, then randomly other times it would be fine. Turns out the negative on my battery had come loose and wasn't getting good contact with the terminal.

Davidov said:

Your symptoms do sound like earth issues to me, I had similar.

Turns out the negative on my battery had come loose and wasn't getting good contact with the terminal.

Click to expand...

Poor earth connections are the easiest to fix & most common cause of electrical probs

I dont think the cockroach is the problem...if it was causing a short in the alternator your battery wouldnt be charging. Check with a multimeter, should be ~14-14.4V just after starting

Scooby's starting problem has resolved. The only thing we did after removing the deceased cockroach was to check the electrical switch in the ignition. Pulled it off and put it back in. She just goes again

^ Maybe just removing/refitting fixed an earth problem in the switch? Just a thought.

Glad that it's all good again, S2 :biggrin: .

Dunno Ratbag. It was a curly one. Everybody's in put was very much appreciated

Best regards,

Glad its sorted, mystery gremlins can be a bugger to fix!