Start motor or solenoid problem ?

[will471]

My K11 has just refused to start - which is rather unusual. When I turn the ignition to start there is no noise at all but I do notice that , with the bonnet open, I can hear the starter motor turn after a second or so but at fairly low revs, certainly not enough to engage and start the engine.
Seems like the starter motor or solenoid - which sound like the more likely ?
I've checked the cables to the solenoid and they all seem fairly clean, no damages, checked the battery and tried another fully charged one to no effect. And then reconnected them but still no starting.
I was going to take the starter motor out but found the upper bolt a problem - unless I'm missing a trick here ! The lower bolt, at the back, is fine but the upper one is blocked by a bracket for the clutch for getting a socket on to it and while I can get a ring spanner on there's only a little room to turn it - certainly not a quick job. And so it's still in the car and will have to be tomorrow's job.
I take it that it's unlikely to be something that's repairable ? So really just a replacement part ?

thanks

 

[will471]

On a new day it wasn't that difficult to remove the motor but the upper bolt is definitely a slow job - just a flat at at time - and it remains to be seen how easy it will be to replace it although I did find that while the fuel and water pipes (to the heater I believe) can be pushed out of the way to some degree it was easier to use my left hand to take the final manual turns of the bolt, so that may be the way to get the bolt back in.
I did check the motor when out of the car and connecting 12v across it just sparked a bit, not much in the way of solenoid activity at all, although the motor turns freely by hand - a replacement part has already been ordered...

 

[frank]

is yours a 1/2" socket set will ? i,ve not come across any bolt access problems

 

[will471]

is yours a 1/2" socket set will ? i,ve not come across any bolt access problems

Yes - just a standard set. So don't you have a bracket with the clutch cable on it right alongside the bolt head - more or less under the fuse box thing (actually it holds relays I think) that runs fore to aft ?

I could take a photo later - hopefully the new /replacement motor will arrive on Monday.

 

[frank]

I see what you mean now mate i usually slacken the 2 x 12mm bolts on the bracket, and most of my sockets are 3/8 drive

 

[will471]

I did wonder about doing that but the couple of descriptions of the job that I found hadn't mentioned the bracket at all...and I tend to try to touch as little as I can bearing in mind that the car is fairly old and one can never be too sure that the bolts will survive. If I can replace the motor without moving the bracket I will but I'll take that into consideration.
In fact I've only owned the car since '09 and while it has done very well, when it got its MOT in the autumn the garage was a little sceptical about next time - the under body is getting a little tired.

 

[r-reg-sr]

i had start refusals with a mashed in ignition switch

 

[will471]

At long last I thought that I should complete the story...
While waiting for the replacement motor I suddenly thought about a K10 starter motor that I do have which I know did work; and looking at the two side by side and they appeared identical but I thought that I had better test the K10 one, and I might as well give the faulty one another check. And, of course, they both worked this time although the K11 one was a bit sticky. I can only think that when I tested the K11 motor previously I hadn't made a good earth connection - well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!
So I just gave the motor shaft a good clean - it was obviously dirty and that was causing the problem in the car - so replaced the original K11 motor and it worked first time.
So test twice and clean and test again...or something like that