Starter and "the hidden bolt"

[wcballance]

I spent a good deal of time under my newly aquired 914 this evening trying to remove the starter. I have everything disconnected with the exception of "the hidden bolt." What is the trick to remove this thing? I basically hugged the tranny and tried putting a wrench around the bolt but nothing I tried would grip the thing! I tried a socket, box and open ended wrench. The open end wrench seemed to have the most promise but the was very little room to move. I need suggestions. Can this be done without dropping the engine and tranny?

[Conrad W Peden]

There is a recess in the starter that holds the head of the bolt from turning. You wont get it to turn. Unless you break your starter.

Reach into the engine compartment and take off the nut.

Starter should come right out

[djpateman]

15mm nut in the engine compartment. The head of the bolt is held by the starter as long as you don't push it out. About the only use for the 15mm tool on the car.

[URY914]

Yep the head of the bolt is not round so it locks into the recess in the starter body and doesn't rotate when the nut is turned.

[URY914]

here is a picture of the starter on my car. I have no sheetmetal to get in the way. I've circled the bolt location. But I am using a socket head cap bolt but you get the idea. If you look close you can see how the stock bolt head fits in the notch in the starter housing.

[teenerted1]

you will probably have to take your air cleaner off the get to the 15mm nut in the engine compartment. when you put your starter back on, tape the bolt to the starter so it wont back off as you try to get the nut on there. and don't over tighten the 13mm that holds the cables on the solenoid. it will crack. don't ask me how i know

[Brother]

That is a horrible rust problem. Your trunk is completely gone.

[wcballance]

Thanks for the responses so far. I haven't attempted the removal again yet because I've been sick. I hope to get to it this evening if I'm still feeling better.

[wcballance]

Success!

Thanks for the help guys. I was able to get the old starter removed. I replaced it with a remanufactured starter from Advance Auto Parts. I got a strange noise with the first crank and then tried again. It fired right up! I shut the car off and tried again... nothing. What went wrong??? I double-checked everything and it all looked good. I removed the starter and took it back to the store. They tested it and got the same result I did. Luckily they had another one in stock. They tested it and it worked much better (OK... it simply worked). I took it home and installed it last night. It fired up first time and has been working all day today. I'm happy.

Luckily I had some help yesterday from a fellow PCA member so that made things go a little faster, but I think I could remove and install a new one again inside of 30 minutes now that I've done it a few times, not that I want to.

[pbanders]

Sticky solenoid. Happens a lot. The way you can prove it to yourself is to put the car on a lift, and have someone turn the key while you whack the side of the solenoid with your jack handle. Starts right up.

[teenerted1]

anyone know if a 1973 2.0L would have the same starter as a 1977 vw bus?

i'm getting sick of the starter i just got...makes a sick noice when it starts and hates to crank hard enough to move the engine when hot. could be a bad solinoid too. but this will be the third time i have to take one out in just a couple of weeks. pretty easy swap i have it down to under 1hr...plus the drive time to the parts store.

since my van is only being used for storage lately i would like to put some of the unused simular parts to work. both are the 2.0L engine. i know some of the internals arent the same but if i can get use out of the old thing that would be great.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

I don't believe they are the same, and I actually don't think the Bus one will work without some modifications.

Have you tried the early 911 starter? Bolts right up, more power. Or the gear-reduction starters--they're lighter and more powerful.

...Then again, cleaning the whole electrical path might help quite a bit, too...

--DD

[teenerted1]

never mind
pulled them both off tonight and the bus is different on the end of the shaft that goes in the engine/trans housing.

after pulling the one off the teener i think i found my problem with the new one



that screw was sticking out about that much when i got a light under the car to get started on pulling it off. seems where the screw goes in is stripped out and probably has been loose like this for the two weeks it has been on the car. no wonder it sounded like crap from the start. finally popped free enough to no longer be useful. i would think this would be a defect and should be able to get my money back or at least an exchange

will check with the parts store where i got this one to see if maybe they have the 911 one. would like more power anyway. hopefully this will be the end to my starting problems for a while