Hi all, I've just come back from a 1000 mile trip to Europe encompassing the Bad Camberg & EBI shows...Great trip, but it highlighted a couple of oddities with my Bay, which may or may not be related... The most immediate issue is a sticky starter: If I stop the engine - even after only maybe a 10min drive - the starter won't turn without being 'persuaded' with a 'tap' to its casing. This occurs regardless of the time between stopping & attempting to re-start...5mins, half an hour, overnight. Once tapped, I can start the engine as normal. As a temporary measure to avoid scrambling under all the time, I 'solve' this by very briefly engaging the starter, before I stop the engine. The second issue, observed while 'persuading' the starter is that the gearbox casing is rather hot. Its not too hot to touch, but definitely more than 'ambient'. I wonder if the the hot gearbox could be leading to the sticky starter problem.. they are, after all, bolted to each other. Note.. I have never (in the 4 years of ownership) changed the gearbox oil, and I don't know if/when it was done by any previous owner. That said, I have not observed any (other) issues with the gearbox - all gears are selectable & and the car goes! Any thoughts/suggestions gratefully received cheers Paul
I used to have to rock the bus in gear to unstick my starter - took it in to have it checked - a clean up of the contacts/connections around the starter seem to have solved it.
The start/non-start might be a dodgy ignition switch or starter motor or solenoid – do a search there are plenty of threads with checks you can make. There might not be much oil in the gearbox, drain and refill it with Castrol Syntrans Transaxle 75W-90, you need 3.5 litres. https://www.opieoils.co.uk/showprod...lly-synthetic-car-gearbox-oil-formerly-taf-x& Obviously make sure you can remove the fill plug before you remove the drain.
Gearboxes get warm, hence they now use multigrade gear oils. The hot start issue is well known, caused by high resistance in the motor brushes hence giving it a tap moves the brushes. If all connections are good then fit a voltage drop relay (volt drop relay).
Thanks - I had always though that the 'hot start' problem was more where the starter can't spin a hot engine fast enough to start it...my problem occurred even on a cold engine. Also, the battery-to-starter cable & earth strap are new (ish). That said, I'll fit a hot start relay (and change the oil)
a lot of times the dog sticks in the engaged position consequently a tap makes it drop back - on the railway we suffered a lot of sticking dogs mainly due to - dried leaves getting inside the dog end of the casing
You hear of "transmission loss" on a dyno .. can be 20 %. Which is about 10HP .. which is 7.5kW. Which vanishes as heat. And quite a lot of that heats the gearbox. Why it is in quite a big box containing oil and there is a small oil coooled gearbox buried inside. However, change the gearbox oil and get the starter cleaned up or exchanged.
