How much in labour to fit a starter motor? 318is

[chewy320]

Hi everyone.

My car has been off the road for a while and was faulty previous to taking it off the road with starting.

It would occasionally not start due to suspect starter motor and if you gave it a hit with a hammer it would sometimes come to life and start the car. It progressively got worse and after not being driven for 2 months due to me being away on work it now does not start at all. The lights on the dash bar light up but the engine does not turn over. Will this be starter or possibly something else?

Also how much would labour costs be for someone to fit a new starter to my car? With it being laid up in my garden with no tax and insurance its hard for me to take it to a garage or try to work out the problem because i do not know much about cars.

Any help would be great

[Rich320I]

is the engine turning over?

if not and you already suspect a starter motor problem, then its probably the starter motor.

to be fair with even the most basic mechanical skills and a haynes manual changing a starter motor shoudlnt be to much hassle mate, for a garage id reckon on a 1-1 1/2 hours max.

[Brianmoooore]

Quick and easy job on any four cylinder E30. Disconnect the battery negative, remove the air filter assembly and the large convoluted hose, and you have room to access it at the rear of the engine bay. Remove four wires off of three terminals, and remove the two securing nuts with a ratchet and a socket on an extension just longer than the motor itself. The nuts are on the end of T12 torx bolts, which is where the only potential problem arises - you can't get a socket onto these bolts because of the transmission tunnel/bulkhead, but you can usually find a ring spanner that will hold them well enough.
Now, if anyone knows how to change the motor on an E46 330i, then I'd like to know. You can barely see any part of the motor from any angle, let alone disconnect wires from it and find space to get it out!

[chewy320]

Thanks mate,

Yeah the engine doesn't turn over just nothing. Its been this way since i bought it really just occasional refusing to start and then got worse. As its my second car i don't get to drive it much so i guess the problem has just got worse with leaving it standing for a few weeks at a time.

To access the starter motor do you have to go in from underneath the car? I have no tools or jacks so it might be harder for an idiot like me!

[chewy320]

Thanks brian, I might give it a try! Are all starters the same for e30's or do i have to buy a specific motor?

[Rich320I]

no worries,

brian mooore above has kindly detailed the procedure, but no you can access it from above as brian mentions remove the air filter housing etc,

e30s are very logical and the engineering standard is high, so with time patience you can do jobs such as the above relatively easily,

if you havnt got any tools, id recommend getting a decent set of sockets, spanners, from halfords. because owning a 20+ year old car and not being able to fix it will end up costing you many many £ at the local garage mate

[chewy320]

I have already discovered this over my first year of ownership!

Worth it though as e30s are such great cars to drive.

[Rich320I]

great cars to drive mate, and youl enjoy it even more if you can sort simple probs and do routine things like servicing etc

good luck with the starter motor, weekends coming up, few hours nice cup of tea and youl have it changed

[chewy320]

Fingers crossed!

Makes my e46 feel like a boring heap of junk.

I will revive this thread if i have any problems!

Thanks everyone.

[Brianmoooore]

Now, if anyone knows how to change the motor on an E46 330i, then I'd like to know. You can barely see any part of the motor from any angle, let alone disconnect wires from it and find space to get it out!

NOTE. these starters are difficult to do, first thing is disconnect the neg. battery cable, next, open the hood and near the engine firewall you want to remove the complete micro air filter assembly, and the filter holder itself from the firewall, 4 t30 bolts bolt it to the fire wall,

next, remove the plastic cover on firewall that covers up the ac blower assembly, 2 t30 torx bolts , twist and pull the cover off, now you should be able to look down the back of the engine and see the starter.

The starter is located under the intake manifold, there are two e12 inverted torx bolts that bolt the starter to the bell housing. both bolts go in same direction. get a e12 long wrench and you should be able to sneak the wrench down behind the engine and remove the top starter bolt, this is a very tight fit and make sure you take your time.

Next raise the vehicle up and go underneath the vehicle, which ever works best for you and trans type (auto, man) you might need a long extension but remove the lower e12 torx under the car. remove the 2 small wires on starter, and two large cables on starter. (make note on how cables are ran before you remove them), (4 wires in total), starter may be seized into bell housing by a dowel pin. just get a very long 3/8 ixtension and place it against the solenoid or any other hard part on the starter and hit the extension with a hammer until the starter breaks free from bell housing (transmission).

Remove the starter from under the car. replace starter, and secure cables first, then start both bolts, once both bolts are started, snug them both up equally and tighten up, reassembly vehicle, and start car. good luck

Have just done a clutch change on this car, so I've actually had the starter motor loose - eventually. The dowel pin on the motor was an incredibly tight fit into the bell housing and just wouldn't let go. Removed all the bits under the bonnet that you mention, but you still can't get your hand on the thing to try and wriggle it free! A large SnapOn screwdriver was driven into the gap by the dowel, and sacrificed its life, with the job being finished by a similarly sized Lidll special.
We didn't actually need to change the motor, which is just as well, because there was no way I could disconnect the wiring from it without removing a lot more bits - even the inlet manifold.

[magpie]

i have a fully working m40 starter motor here,tried and tested.

pm me if interested.

if your not able to fit this yourself maybe you could try in the wanted ads on here for someone local to you to fit it for you or check out your local mobile mechanic in the local rag or via google search and see how much they want.

it's a 20-30 min job for any good mechanic.

[Brianmoooore]

I have already discovered this over my first year of ownership!

This is largely down to years of neglect and minimum servicing. Once you get it all sorted, an E30 will be by far the most reliable and cheapest to run car that you will ever own.

[chewy320]

Thanks adit, i think i am going to buy brand new just so its done.

Would i be looking at something like this?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/STARTER-MOTOR ... 459wt_1348

[magpie]

it's MAGPIE fella.

look beyond the gold ribbon.

[chewy320]

haha SORRY

[Grrrmachine]

As a quick check, have you tried cranking the engine from the diagnostic plug rather than the key? Just want to save you time and money before you swap your starter:

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... Plug_Start

[chewy320]

Thanks, i will give this a try. Is this inside the tube object located near the cover for all the relays?

[Grrrmachine]

Right next to the fuse box should be a round plug with a removable cap. Inside you'll see 20 pins with Pacman in the middle:

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... ostic_Plug

[chewy320]

Thanks for all your help.

I bridged pins 11 and 14 with an old bass guitar string hah. Got some sparks and it heated up but no sign of life from the starter. Will try and get to grips fitting a new one at the weekend and see how i get on.

[chewy320]

Hi guys.

So i spent a few hours trying to fit my new starter today with no success

I took out the air box and removed the tube to gain more access to the starter, took of all the connections and then got stuck on the 1 nut that is behind the starter out of view.

I tried extensions and feeling with my hand but my tools are either too long or too wide as there is not much room to get the socket on in the first place let alone be able to get enough leverage to get the last bolt off. I also undid the two fixings holding the housing that the loom runs into and lifted it up to try and make a little more room for my tool but i just cant get it to stay on let alone turn it.

Any tips or ideas?

Its good to finally get stuck into trying jobs myself though, its not as scary as i once thought!

Cheers

[magpie]

i hope you've disconnected the battery ?

[chewy320]

Of course

[e30ftw]

Hi there im trying to fit a starter motor to my 6 cylinder e30, but im stuck on taking it off as well. any tips or tricks would be good. Im stuck on the top nut holding it to the gear box and now its all started turning.

#Its doing my nut in (pun intended) : )

chewy320- i dont know if its the same on the 4 cylinder but i disconected the two water hoses to the heater and the vacume hose to the barake servo to get a little more room to manover. taking the loom out the cable try, so you can get it in to different position helped too.

[FinalD]

It is a pain to get to the top bolt but with lots of fannying around, spanner and things you should be able to get it done from above. There is no chance you'd get it done from below due to the position of it above the gearbox.