Thread: Tdi Starter Motor Stuck on

With the timing case cover off, the timing checked, the valve clearances done and the fuel pump solenoid disconnected I went to have a few cranks before firing her up.

1st attempt, clicked no action from the starter.

Had this problem before when the ignition trigger wire came loose at the solenoid. Checked it and was ok, had volts too. So decided to take off the main battery cable and two other brown cable connections from the live pin on solonoid , inspected and put them back on nice and tight. I then whacked the solonoid for good measure and cranked again.

This time it stayed on after the key switched off, but luckily I had the battery uncovered in the seat next to me with the neg loose so quickly pulled it.

I pulled the ignition trigger wire on the starter solenoid thinking the ignition relay may have stuck on and then reconnected the battery, which resulted in sparks and starter going at it again!

So now thinking I may have shorted something at the solonoid with all my tinkering or the solonoid has got stuck on.

Because its tucked away out of sight I'm not clear on the connections.

What can I do with a multimeter to test if its a short or stuck solenoid?

Thanks Dave, happy to report that I don't have to pull the starter just yet.. i tinkered with it one last time...

turns out that the stud that goes into the solenoid worked loose when I undid the nut to pull the live wires. The nut went back on tight but the stud could move so when I turned it over the stud rotated the live wires onto the live feed to the starter (just below).

Seems crazy that they would place these connections so close without shielding.

I cant get the stud to wind back in and tighten up.. it just seems to twirl, showing off its blue loctite so I know it hast gone back in like it should.

For now I've zip tied the cables up high and tightened as best as I could.

Starter worked properly so introduced some fuel. About 4 seconds of cranking and nothing happened so I checked under the bonnet to find diesel dripping onto the floor. Leak off pipe on inj#1 ****ed it and some drips from the back of the FIP where the leak off pipe returns.

I threw in the towel - had enough for one day, I may get it running next weekend - who knows