It's been dead in the shop, so not much has been happening or has been worth mentioning, except an issue a customer had with a starter off a 2002 Mercedes CLK. He ordered a starter off the Internet and then brought the vehicle to the mechanics shop, that's across the street from my shop, to swap out the starter. They had trouble installing the new starter because it was about an inch longer than the old one and would not go into place!
So the customer brought the old starter to my shop to see if I could fix it right then! Because of the thousands and thousands of different parts that don't interchange I didn't have or wouldn't even stock the part I needed to repair his starter. Then they brought me the new starter to see if I could change the parts needed over to the old starter, but as it turned out the new starter was also larger in diameter than the old starter and the parts wouldn't interchange. With the customer's permission, the mechanic ground out some metal in the frame or something, so he could get the longer starter into position.
Checking the computer I found that Mercedes used two different models of starter for that vehicle and engine size. Why? Why in the hell did they do that? Who's the SOB who thought up using more than one starter? Why didn't they just produce one starter for the vehicle or for a large number of their vehicles! This practice, used by all the manufacturers, has caused a large number of headaches for a lot of people and wasted my time, my customer's time and the mechanics time dealing with this issue. Maybe if the auto manufacturers had to pay us for all the lost time dealing with issues like this, they would change the way they built cars and made them simpler and more interchangeable!
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Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Disassembling your unit and then bringing it to me to fix!
There are several reasons people take their starter or alternator apart. One is they are usually don't have any money to buy a replacement, can't find one at a salvage and hope they can figure out what's wrong and repair it themselves to save some money. Another is that they want to find out how bad it is and whether it's worth repairing. Some people think that if they disassemble it, it will save them some of the labor expense of having me tear it down. I should also add that some people don't trust the person they will have work on it and don't want to get ripped off by being over-charged for parts they don't need. Unfortunately, there are some unscrupulous repair men out there that do rip some people off!
A lot of times customers quickly find out that these newer units are not like the old Delco units that were simple to work on and are too complicated to fix! Whatever the reason, they end up bringing me the mess they have created and want me to fix it. This presents me with several problems. The first is, since they took it apart, I may not know how to put it back together again. This was a real problem the first three or so years I was doing this business. Though this sounds like no big deal, you have no idea the hundreds or even thousands of variations of starters and alternators there are out there!
With my experience now, I can usually figure out how they go together, but there are parts that can be indexed in several different positions, housings that align in different positions and internal parts that can be switched making the unit operate incorrectly. Since I didn't take it apart and mark the positions, I have to guess how it goes back together when I reassemble it and I may have to re-take it apart several times to reposition something to get it to work properly!
Another problem is that they leave some of the parts at home, or worse they loose them! There are some units out there that have small loose parts that the customer doesn't even know are there, that will fall out and they don't even notice them.
Many of the units have complicated construction and if they don't know the 'tricks of the trade' so to speak, the customers will also sometimes damage or break 'beyond repair' some of the components, trying to disassemble or work on the units themselves!
The last thing is that now I can't test the unit, which could help me figure out what's wrong with it. Testing it before hand can help me find defective parts the won't show up otherwise, until I have fixed the other problems, reassembled and tested the unit. This would end up requiring me to disassemble the unit again and replace more parts, sometimes doubling the labor expense!
Instead of saving the customer some of the labor costs, it usually ends up costing them more to repair the unit, than if they had just brought it to me still all together! So, y'all go right ahead and disassemble you units so I can make a lot more money! Cha-ching!
A lot of times customers quickly find out that these newer units are not like the old Delco units that were simple to work on and are too complicated to fix! Whatever the reason, they end up bringing me the mess they have created and want me to fix it. This presents me with several problems. The first is, since they took it apart, I may not know how to put it back together again. This was a real problem the first three or so years I was doing this business. Though this sounds like no big deal, you have no idea the hundreds or even thousands of variations of starters and alternators there are out there!
With my experience now, I can usually figure out how they go together, but there are parts that can be indexed in several different positions, housings that align in different positions and internal parts that can be switched making the unit operate incorrectly. Since I didn't take it apart and mark the positions, I have to guess how it goes back together when I reassemble it and I may have to re-take it apart several times to reposition something to get it to work properly!
Another problem is that they leave some of the parts at home, or worse they loose them! There are some units out there that have small loose parts that the customer doesn't even know are there, that will fall out and they don't even notice them.
Many of the units have complicated construction and if they don't know the 'tricks of the trade' so to speak, the customers will also sometimes damage or break 'beyond repair' some of the components, trying to disassemble or work on the units themselves!
The last thing is that now I can't test the unit, which could help me figure out what's wrong with it. Testing it before hand can help me find defective parts the won't show up otherwise, until I have fixed the other problems, reassembled and tested the unit. This would end up requiring me to disassemble the unit again and replace more parts, sometimes doubling the labor expense!
Instead of saving the customer some of the labor costs, it usually ends up costing them more to repair the unit, than if they had just brought it to me still all together! So, y'all go right ahead and disassemble you units so I can make a lot more money! Cha-ching!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Working on 2000 and Later Vehicles
The following is my opinion and just my opinion. Take it for what it's worth!
I believe that if you are not an ASE certified mechanic and have the proper testing equipment, then you have no business going under the hood of a 2000 or later vehicle! No old school procedures will work when trying to diagnose problems or doing any repairs and will probably cause more expensive repairs by damaging sensitive computer components!
I believe that if you are not an ASE certified mechanic and have the proper testing equipment, then you have no business going under the hood of a 2000 or later vehicle! No old school procedures will work when trying to diagnose problems or doing any repairs and will probably cause more expensive repairs by damaging sensitive computer components!
I know all you do-it-yourself people out there think you should be able to fix anything and have had few problems working on vehicles up to now, but these later vehicles just don’t work that way. I personally have quit working on 2000 and later alternators. I’ve had too many failures that have cost me more money than I ever made off the unit and I don’t believe the fault was mine or the unit I sold them, but I had to warrant them anyway. I can’t count on the installer to take the proper care when hooking up the wires, that he doesn’t create a spark and damage the sensitive regulator circuitry!
What makes matters worse is that if the battery goes dead, you have to have the car towed to a dealer or a qualified mechanic to reprogram the cars computer. You can't jump start it and you can't just change the battery. Makes you wonder how much it will cost you every time the battery runs down because you left on a light or the battery fails. It's been my experience that I only get about three and a half years out of a battery and I don't want to buy one prematurely just to keep me from paying the dealer an extra hundred bucks to reprogram the computer in my car. To top this off you have to have a mechanic or a dealer to change the damn battery because they have to hook up a power source to the vehicles computer while removing and installing the battery to keep the computer active! WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP!
The problems with these are both political and the technology race. The damn politicians keep passing laws for vehicle safety and emissions. Though some of these laws have made things cleaner and safer, there seems to be overkill to some of this, which has forced auto manufacturers to come up with technology that will keep up with the mandates. This technology costs lots of money and causes extra problems when the car malfunctions. Also, it is a ploy to make you have to bring your car to the dealer and it also makes the repairs so expensive! Who pays for all of this? WE do! We do, in higher prices for new cars. We do, for way overpriced diagnostic and repair costs. We do, in simple repairs we should have been able to do ourselves but now have to pay the dealer!
This makes me wonder what's going to happen to the poorer people in this country. There are millions of them, they cant afford the payments, taxes and insurance on a new car and the older cars are wearing out. Even if they could afford a new car on extended payments, the warranty runs out and only one breakdown would render their car useless, as they could never be able to afford the cost of the repairs.
The politicians of both parties are so out of touch with the common people of this country that they only serve to hinder the problem instead of finding solutions to the problems! I see no end in site toward a solution to all of this short of stop buying new cars and demand that the manufacturers build simpler, easier to fix cars!
This makes me wonder what's going to happen to the poorer people in this country. There are millions of them, they cant afford the payments, taxes and insurance on a new car and the older cars are wearing out. Even if they could afford a new car on extended payments, the warranty runs out and only one breakdown would render their car useless, as they could never be able to afford the cost of the repairs.
The politicians of both parties are so out of touch with the common people of this country that they only serve to hinder the problem instead of finding solutions to the problems! I see no end in site toward a solution to all of this short of stop buying new cars and demand that the manufacturers build simpler, easier to fix cars!
Oh how I miss the days when cars were simple to work on!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Starter Doesn’t Engage!
Once again, I’m posting this mostly for the benefit of my local customers, but everyone should read this, as it may help you describe your problem to your rebuilder!
If this sounds like I’m angry, I’m not! Just please, please, please, don’t come into my shop and tell me that your starter doesn’t engage!!! The first thing that does, is piss me off, because now I have to stand there for a half an hour, quizzing the person on what exactly his starter is doing and explain to him how his starter works to narrow down the problem. The second thing that will happen is I’m gonna get in your face and ask, What part of it doesn’t engage? starting the conservation, which most people look at me with a dumbfounded look on their face, like I should know what their talking about!
The problem with saying ‘My starter doesn’t engage’ is that in most starters, there are numerous parts that engage other parts, and the definition of engage, means different things to different people. One person will have a starter that spins but doesn’t turn the engine over. Another person will have one that just clicks when you turn the key. Another person’s starter will be completely dead. They will all come into my shop and say their starter doesn’t engage, but all have different problems.
Let me explain just what occurs when a starter is activated. When the vehicle operator turns the key to the start position, an electrical current flows into the solenoid’s coil and ‘engages’ the solenoid, pulling in the plunger. The plunger usually does two jobs; It pushes or pulls the drive gear into the flywheel ‘engaging’ or meshing with it, also making contact between the battery cable and motor terminal ‘engaging’ the starter motor and starts it spinning. As with most modern starters, the motor ‘engages’ a gear reduction, which ‘engages’ the output shaft, which ‘engages’ the drive body, which ‘engages’ the drive gear through a one-way slip clutch, which finally ‘engages’ the flywheel, rolling the engine over and all this happens within a second or so.
As you can see, there are a lot of parts engaging with others, so saying that the starter doesn’t engage, doesn’t tell me anything!!!
Here is a list of the best responses for the question of ‘what exactly is the starter doing or not doing?’ or (what’s wrong with your starter?)
1. Starter spins, but doesn’t crank the engine. (This is usually a bad drive or stripped gears in the gear reduction.)
2. Starter clicks only once each time you turn the key. (Usually a bad solenoid, but could also be a bad battery cable.)
3. Starter rapidly clicks or chatters when you turn the key. (This is almost always low voltage to the starter, usually a weak battery or corroded cables or connections.)
4. Starter is completely dead, no noise, nothing. (This is anything form worn out brushes to completely burned up and beyond repair. It also could be a dead battery or a bad battery cable. Don’t let any of this prevent you from getting it checked out before spending a bunch of money on a new starter.)
There you have it! Using these terms to describe your problem will expedite your repair and save you time and money, and me a lot of headaches!
If this sounds like I’m angry, I’m not! Just please, please, please, don’t come into my shop and tell me that your starter doesn’t engage!!! The first thing that does, is piss me off, because now I have to stand there for a half an hour, quizzing the person on what exactly his starter is doing and explain to him how his starter works to narrow down the problem. The second thing that will happen is I’m gonna get in your face and ask, What part of it doesn’t engage? starting the conservation, which most people look at me with a dumbfounded look on their face, like I should know what their talking about!
The problem with saying ‘My starter doesn’t engage’ is that in most starters, there are numerous parts that engage other parts, and the definition of engage, means different things to different people. One person will have a starter that spins but doesn’t turn the engine over. Another person will have one that just clicks when you turn the key. Another person’s starter will be completely dead. They will all come into my shop and say their starter doesn’t engage, but all have different problems.
Let me explain just what occurs when a starter is activated. When the vehicle operator turns the key to the start position, an electrical current flows into the solenoid’s coil and ‘engages’ the solenoid, pulling in the plunger. The plunger usually does two jobs; It pushes or pulls the drive gear into the flywheel ‘engaging’ or meshing with it, also making contact between the battery cable and motor terminal ‘engaging’ the starter motor and starts it spinning. As with most modern starters, the motor ‘engages’ a gear reduction, which ‘engages’ the output shaft, which ‘engages’ the drive body, which ‘engages’ the drive gear through a one-way slip clutch, which finally ‘engages’ the flywheel, rolling the engine over and all this happens within a second or so.
As you can see, there are a lot of parts engaging with others, so saying that the starter doesn’t engage, doesn’t tell me anything!!!
Here is a list of the best responses for the question of ‘what exactly is the starter doing or not doing?’ or (what’s wrong with your starter?)
1. Starter spins, but doesn’t crank the engine. (This is usually a bad drive or stripped gears in the gear reduction.)
2. Starter clicks only once each time you turn the key. (Usually a bad solenoid, but could also be a bad battery cable.)
3. Starter rapidly clicks or chatters when you turn the key. (This is almost always low voltage to the starter, usually a weak battery or corroded cables or connections.)
4. Starter is completely dead, no noise, nothing. (This is anything form worn out brushes to completely burned up and beyond repair. It also could be a dead battery or a bad battery cable. Don’t let any of this prevent you from getting it checked out before spending a bunch of money on a new starter.)
There you have it! Using these terms to describe your problem will expedite your repair and save you time and money, and me a lot of headaches!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Starter Doesn't Work, Is It The Starter Though?
This happened to me several years ago. I bought an Allis Chalmers model C tractor that was having starter problems. So I thought to myself, 'Hey, I'm in the starter repair business, so I'm sure I can fix this one!'
The starter was dragging so much that it wouldn't hardly roll the engine over a revolution. I first did a load test on the battery to make sure it was good and not the cause and cleaned the cable connections and tried it. It still wouldn't crank properly, so I then removed the starter from the tractor and took it apart. It really wasn't that bad inside, so to make sure I wouldn't have any problems, I changed the wear parts like brushes and bushings. I tested the armature and turned the commutator and checked the field coils for shorts to ground. I also replace the little lever operated switch. Then after lubing it and reassembling it, I put it back on the tractor. It still was dragging and at the same time is now pissin' me off!!!
It pulled the battery down pretty quickly, so I charged it and tried it again. Still wouldn't work but I discovered that the ground cable was getting hot where it bolted to the frame. Since I had new cables handy, I replaced the battery cables and made sure the ground connection was clean. Damn thing still wouldn't work! OOOOooooooooo!!!!
After few choice words and a lot of head scratchin', I pulled the starter back off and went through it again thinking I've must of missed something. I found nothing wrong and reassembled it and put it back on the tractor. Then I thought 'Well, sometimes there are hidden problems that can't be detected with certain units and the only way to know for sure is to replace the starter. So I looked around the shop for a core or parts to build another one, but with no luck. Now mind you, this all is taking place over several months as I only have time to work on the tractor here and there! I would tinker with it now and then to see if I could figure it out without any luck either.
Finally.....The Battery Completely Died! I went and bought a new battery and installed it. That solved all my problems! It's worked great ever since and I sold the tractor to a guy who say's it's still running like a top. I discovered later that I should have cycled the load on the battery about three times to make sure it would hold up.
This just goes to show you that just because your starter doesn't work, it doesn't necessarily mean the starter is actually bad!
The starter was dragging so much that it wouldn't hardly roll the engine over a revolution. I first did a load test on the battery to make sure it was good and not the cause and cleaned the cable connections and tried it. It still wouldn't crank properly, so I then removed the starter from the tractor and took it apart. It really wasn't that bad inside, so to make sure I wouldn't have any problems, I changed the wear parts like brushes and bushings. I tested the armature and turned the commutator and checked the field coils for shorts to ground. I also replace the little lever operated switch. Then after lubing it and reassembling it, I put it back on the tractor. It still was dragging and at the same time is now pissin' me off!!!
It pulled the battery down pretty quickly, so I charged it and tried it again. Still wouldn't work but I discovered that the ground cable was getting hot where it bolted to the frame. Since I had new cables handy, I replaced the battery cables and made sure the ground connection was clean. Damn thing still wouldn't work! OOOOooooooooo!!!!
After few choice words and a lot of head scratchin', I pulled the starter back off and went through it again thinking I've must of missed something. I found nothing wrong and reassembled it and put it back on the tractor. Then I thought 'Well, sometimes there are hidden problems that can't be detected with certain units and the only way to know for sure is to replace the starter. So I looked around the shop for a core or parts to build another one, but with no luck. Now mind you, this all is taking place over several months as I only have time to work on the tractor here and there! I would tinker with it now and then to see if I could figure it out without any luck either.
Finally.....The Battery Completely Died! I went and bought a new battery and installed it. That solved all my problems! It's worked great ever since and I sold the tractor to a guy who say's it's still running like a top. I discovered later that I should have cycled the load on the battery about three times to make sure it would hold up.
This just goes to show you that just because your starter doesn't work, it doesn't necessarily mean the starter is actually bad!
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