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Triumph TR6 - Starter Issue

I decided to fire up the TR6 as summer in Arizona the car mostly sits in the garage. When I connected the positive battery cable to the battery a giant spark occurred. I removed all wires from the starter and have discovered (via continuity test) that both positive terminals on the gear reduction starter seem to be shorted internally. Has anyone experienced this? The darn starter is only a couple of years old.
DWS Smith

Sorry DWS I don't have any experience with the gear reduction starter but I suspect like most starters it has a solenoid to engage the starter gear. It sounds like yours has frozen in the closed position. Why or how I can't say but it sounds like it is defective and in my opinion should be a warranty issue.
Michael Petryschuk

Michael - That's a good point and a likely possibility.
I pulled the starter earlier today (always a treat on a TR6)and opened up the unit. If you look at the enclosed picture you will see that the large terminal had turned and grounded against the internal body. Not the best design and I think I may put a piece of insulation in there just in case it shifts in the future. This type of failure could certainly burn a car to the ground if not quickly detected.

Thanks for the input...


DWS Smith

I would send that report and pic to the vender
DNK

I traced the starter back to Gustafson Machine out of Mass. Evidently they supply BPNW, British starters, TRF, TSI and a host of other parts distributors with these starters. The owner Keith was friendly but offered little more in support other than a suggestion to tighten the bolt up. He also mentioned he would send any parts I may need if anything looked damaged. Evidently he buys these starters (remanufactured), modifies them and resells them to distribution. This is one of those poor designs that you can only tighten so much without breaking the insulator and yet the post still has a tendency to shift. I was going to attempt to modify the solenoid to prevent future problems but decided not to bother since the risks are too severe upon failure and installation on the TR6 is a pain. I refer to it as the hardest 2 bolts to remove and install on the entire car. I decided to buy the MOSS #541-555 unit that is made by IMI out of California. It arrived today and I am very impressed. The quality is far superior, it is all new not remanufactured and it's even a bit smaller. Of course this came with a price tag of $277.00 (almost 100 bucks higher) but it is clearly a higher end unit. I tried to save some money by going with the budget model a couple of years ago as I was at the end of an eight year restoration that was way over budget.
Live and learn guys...
DWS Smith

Thanks for giving me something else to worry about. I bought one of those starters about 3 years ago from British Starters for about $180. I thought they had a reputation for being pretty bullet proof, since they were used on many Japanese cars. So far, no problems, but I think dis-assembly and adding some insulation might provide peace of mind. I remember welding a small rod across the head of the top bolt to make r&r easier. Thanks for the heads up. Some times new&improved isn't.
Berry
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Seems to be a pretty cheap construction. Good luck with the new one DW . I can't believe you don't like removing the starter. Why there is nothing more I would prefer to do than pulling that out. ;-) However I would prefer to do it on a TR6 than on a Sea doo which I had to do 2 weeks ago. On the Sea Doo You have to remove the exhaust system and even then you can't get underneath to see and have to work largely blind in putting the bottom bolt back in around the exhaust manifold. I dropped at least 4 Stainless washers into the bilge. And I was doing it in 90 degree sunny weather sweating my tail off. At least it wasn't in the water floating up and down but on a trailer.

Michael Petryschuk

Mike

The joys of summer.....

les
lw gilholme

I am happy to say she is up and running again. Driving season in AZ is about 2 months away but I am ready.
DWS Smith

This thread was discussed between 30/07/2015 and 10/08/2015

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