ha, 90 minutes (6 hours later) :-) Thankyou Mr Sutherland! This is the only source of info that really gives the hints as to where the bolts and what tools you'll need. Haynes manual? Rubbish. Forums scraped for info? Hard going. This video? Not bad. If you can get a mechanic to do this for £100, chose that option because this job is a right royal pain. My top tips, having done this to refurb the starter solenoid just yesterday, are: Maybe by 03 plate has different setup (Denso starter) but remove the +ve feed AND THE GROUND CLIP THAT NESTLES THERE BUT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO SEE because it's black and covered in 20 years of grime. It will take some persuesion. Releasing/penetrating oil. Use it. Liberally. Often. Those seemingly welded on nut and bolts will give in eventually. That 15mm nut? Pull the spanner forward and down to open it. The 13mm nut the other end just does not have any range of movement inbetween those hoses. The back bolt that is shown in the video using the long extension? It really is hard to find! Use your phone's camera to help see under the jumble of pipes. Then use your fingers. REMOVAL OF STARTER: Beautifully understated, it is awkward and takes time! Rotate the starter along it's left-right axis to free it before pulling up on the back end once the drive is free. You'll need to be brutal, move those hoses out the way, but it will come out. Don't despair - getting it back in is a whole lot easier. REASSEMBLY: Once the starter motor is vaguely in the right place, first bolt to do it the one needing the long extension. this will help seat the starter in place. Wiggle it a bit to get the locating lugs on the starter body in place. The front bolt, with the 15mm nut, is proper tricky to get in place unless you have the fingers of a squid. A good 10 minutes of finger yoga got me there in the end. WARNING: Dropping spanners, bolts and nuts into the bowels of the engine and undertray is insanely easy to do, and retrieving them an upsetting challenge. My toppest tip is to get a magnet on a felxible wire to get yourself out of this tricky situation. about £5 from Toolstation, under their mechanics tools section. Great video tho. If you suddenly find your freelander really won't start anymore after months of being "playfully reluctant" to start - this is all you need. Oh, and the solenoid repair kit off ebay, about £10. TY Dr S!
Awesome. I couldn't locate by sight or touch one of the two bolts. Do you think the engine designers could have made it any harder to remove a starter motor?
ha, 90 minutes (6 hours later) :-) Thankyou Mr Sutherland!
This is the only source of info that really gives the hints as to where the bolts and what tools you'll need. Haynes manual? Rubbish. Forums scraped for info? Hard going. This video? Not bad.
If you can get a mechanic to do this for £100, chose that option because this job is a right royal pain. My top tips, having done this to refurb the starter solenoid just yesterday, are:
Maybe by 03 plate has different setup (Denso starter) but remove the +ve feed AND THE GROUND CLIP THAT NESTLES THERE BUT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO SEE because it's black and covered in 20 years of grime. It will take some persuesion.
Releasing/penetrating oil. Use it. Liberally. Often. Those seemingly welded on nut and bolts will give in eventually.
That 15mm nut? Pull the spanner forward and down to open it. The 13mm nut the other end just does not have any range of movement inbetween those hoses.
The back bolt that is shown in the video using the long extension? It really is hard to find! Use your phone's camera to help see under the jumble of pipes. Then use your fingers.
REMOVAL OF STARTER:
Beautifully understated, it is awkward and takes time! Rotate the starter along it's left-right axis to free it before pulling up on the back end once the drive is free. You'll need to be brutal, move those hoses out the way, but it will come out.
Don't despair - getting it back in is a whole lot easier.
REASSEMBLY:
Once the starter motor is vaguely in the right place, first bolt to do it the one needing the long extension. this will help seat the starter in place. Wiggle it a bit to get the locating lugs on the starter body in place.
The front bolt, with the 15mm nut, is proper tricky to get in place unless you have the fingers of a squid. A good 10 minutes of finger yoga got me there in the end.
WARNING:
Dropping spanners, bolts and nuts into the bowels of the engine and undertray is insanely easy to do, and retrieving them an upsetting challenge. My toppest tip is to get a magnet on a felxible wire to get yourself out of this tricky situation. about £5 from Toolstation, under their mechanics tools section.
Great video tho. If you suddenly find your freelander really won't start anymore after months of being "playfully reluctant" to start - this is all you need. Oh, and the solenoid repair kit off ebay, about £10.
TY Dr S!
100% agreed about Haynes manual: "remove the bolts from the starter motor and retrieve from the engine bay" or such like.
This is all my Haynes manual says...
Slacken and remove the mounting bolts, and remove the starter motor.@@KeyboardThumper
Thanks this is very informative
Great video, really helpful. I've linked to it in my own video detailing how I refreshed my solenoid, after following your video to get it out 👍
Thanks for this video I have that same job to perform...
Ok I did my change over and this video made me look like a pro
Awesome. I couldn't locate by sight or touch one of the two bolts.
Do you think the engine designers could have made it any harder to remove a starter motor?
As said remove the inlet manifold,it's easier and only takes a few minutes
You may as well clean it out while it's off.
It's easier to remove inlet manifold