Hi all,
I have been pulling my hair out with starter problems on my 08 wee.
It seemed like I had a flat battery, and the thing just turned over really slowly.
After swapping the battery, checking the all the relays I whacked it gently with a hammer.
I thought maybe it's sticking? And it worked! For a short while. I gently tapped it again and it worked.
Convinced something was sticking in the starter I decided to take it off.
With it sat on the centre stand I removed the two 8mm bolts holding it on. It was quite stuck in, so I need a long thin rod to tap it from the other side to knock it loose.
I then needed a bit of rag to clean up the oil that was leaking out the starter, not a lot, but best to have some card and clothe around.
There are two 7mm bolts holding the starter together, and 10mm holding the earth on..
I undid the housing, and the thing comes into three sections fairly easily.
The rear section holds the brushes. Low and behold one of the brushes was stuck.
I took the brush out cleaned, filed, the corrosion off. Re assembled with a bit of electrical grease. A little blob on the back of the spindle as well.
Re assemble in reverse order, remembering the order of the washers, I have a couple left over, so if anyone has a exploded diagram that would be great.
Re assemble and it worked really well.
Water has clearly be seeping in through the electrical connections and corroding the brush housing, so I suspect this problem to some extent afflicts all wee storms of that era and design.
Now all I need is a spare set of brushes! Or maybe a pattern starter. The stuck brush is substantially shorter, so who knows how long it will last.
Good luck.
A