Hi,
I have a petrol Ford Focus 2017 eco boost. This has done 45k miles. A couple weeks ago the clutch went so I got this replaced and also had to get the dual mass fly wheel replaced. Now just a week later after it being fixed the starter motor has broken, the car recovery guy said this could be linked to the garage replacing my fly wheel and that it might be their fault. I was just hoping for a second opinion if anyone also thinks this could be linked? Thanks in advance!
Can you please elaborate?
Is the starter motor physically broken, meaning somebody obviously wailed on it with a hammer?
The starter’s not even spinning?
Sorry, I’m not 100% sure. But I have been driving it for a week with no problems until it stopped working, and now is not spinning at all, get no feedback when try ignition but dashboard & windows work
Try shifting the transmission into neutral to see if the engine starts.
Tester
No experience w/your car, but usually the starter motor’s gear engages with a gear on the outer edge of the flywheel to crank the engine. It’s hard to imagine replacing the flywheel would cause this not to work b/c of a flywheel problem, unless the flywheel was the wrong part number. Since the starter motor cranked the engine ok for a week , the flywheel-wrong-part theory seems unlikely. hmmm … so what else?
To replace the flywheel the starter motor was probably removed, then replaced, so good idea to make sure the starter motor is securely mounted and the two wires that go to it are securely attached to the terminals. Also good idea to verify the voltage on both of those terminals are at least 10.5 volts when key is in “start”. Probe the voltage between the terminal and the starter case. If all that checks out, then the starter motor is likely faulty & needs to be replaced, problem is probably just a coincidence.
I’d suspect you’ve got a loose or bad wire at the starter that maybe was missed in the reinstall. If the gear on the starter was sheared, you’d still hear the whine of the starter. If the bendix was jammed, you’d still hear a click. Hearing nothing indicate wiring or the starter itself is shot. Those are pretty rugged motors though. Of course you don’t know what those guys did like the gear got jammed on the flywheel and overheated the motor, then they fixed it. I vote for a loose wire.