[sparkymarky]

Could someone pop their bonnet and tell me which way the right hand bolt of their starter motor faces?

So standing there, look to the right hand side of the engine, and towards the rear and downwards. Look down between a couple of hoses and you'll see the starter motor. The right hand bolt - do you see its hex head or do you see the other threaded end of the bolt?

pic here, 3rd one down: http://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/tech...eplacement.htm

[RajB]

It as per those pics with the smaller one to the right hand side facing the back of the car so the bolt head visible. The longer bolt is bolted in from the rear of the engine bay.

Only reason I know is that a mate and myself completed the walnut blasting on my car on Saturday so had everything removed and checked at as when we do his we will be changing the starter motor.

[windymissile]

You see the head but it's not a Hex. Are you struggling to get a socket on it.?

WM

[sparkymarky]

Thanks guys. Yea its a torx head. But it has come completely all the way out loose and so my starter has half come out! You can move it around quite freely! grrrr.
But the right hand lower bolt bolt was inserted from the rear....opposite to what the picture shows -a garage had it off a year ago to do the dmf so I was so wondering whether the bolt goes in from the rear as they had it or whether it should in fact go in from the front as per the picture....tried from the front and it just went real tight about half way in....i assumed it was because the bolt was only half threaded with the rear part of the bolt shank going up to the head being smooth and seems slightly larger i thought maybe it would not fit through the initial part of the starter threaded housing....?

[sparkymarky]

P's the other torx bolt higher up on the left is inserted from the rear and is tight. Maybe will try the problematic right hand lower torx bolt inserting from the front again......

[RajB]

The starter motor only has threads on the left bolt hole hence the bolt is inserted from the rear and goes through the mounting face of the block and into the threaded hole on the starter. The one that has come out on yours isn't threaded on the starter motor as the bolt is supposed to go through that and into the threaded bolt hole on the mounting block. Sounds like they bolted it from the rear and into the threaded hole but that wouldn't have come through to the starter and hence only one bolt holding it in place.

[sparkymarky]

Weird! Mine is different in that case raj?

Because standing at the front of the car looking at the right hand hole in the starter motor itself only, its hole is indeed threaded - the thread starts immediately in its hole. This sounds different to what you expected as it is not threadless....?

Hence when i put the bolt in through the starter hole the threads of the bolt catch the threads in the starter motor hole and it ratchets in fine until it gets to the smooth slightly larger part of the bolt shank. Then it stops.

so, as my starter hole is threaded rather than threadless, I guess it must go in from the rear in my case.. it seems to go in a lot easier from the rear, just struggling to get tools in far enough to get done all the way up...

[RajB]

Originally Posted by sparkymarky

Weird! Mine is different in that case raj?

Because standing at the front of the car looking at the right hand hole in the starter motor itself only, its hole is indeed threaded - the thread starts immediately in its hole. This sounds different to what you expected as it is not threadless....?

Hence when i put the bolt in through the starter hole the threads of the bolt catch the threads in the starter motor hole and it ratchets in fine until it gets to the smooth slightly larger part of the bolt shank. Then it stops.

so, as my starter hole is threaded rather than threadless, I guess it must go in from the rear in my case.. it seems to go in a lot easier from the rear, just struggling to get tools in far enough to get done all the way up...

I would suggest more likely they've cross-threaded the mounting face bolt hole at the rear (hence it's harder to now bolt in from the front) and threaded the once smooth starter motor hole.

Only a possible suggestion as we picked up a new starter motor from the dealer on Saturday for when we replace my mates and it was indeed like that (smooth hole on the right side and threaded on the left and the bolts are of differing sizes too (new ones provided)).

[sparkymarky]

Thanks raj, i phoned the garage today who did the DMF and clutch last year (and so removed the starter in the process) and they've kindly agreed to trailer the car to them and sort it. Whilst I could bolt it back in i'd rather they are the ones who do it & turn the key should any damage have already occurred due to it falling off, if you get my drift....

[Aragorn30d]

Perhaps its just a diesel/petrol difference?

The pelican writeup is for the petrol engines.

The diesel starter uses two identical torx bolts.

[sparkymarky]

so the garage took the car in, reattached the starter and it started fine. Kudos to the bmw specialist who did this for free (including trailering the car) when it has been almost 18 months since they installed the starter. I will continue to recommend to friends who seek an alternative to BMW main dealers as a result of this service. Strange how it took so long for the bolt to come undone though.

No apparent flywheel issues upon startup, yet, despite the starter sounding as though it got locked up into it when it was hanging out.

There is still a metallic 2 second grind on startup that has been there for a while...which I can only assume is the bendix not retracting fully away from the flywheel once the car is started.

That would mean a starter replacement....which means me taking the whole thing apart (intake manifold job!) like i did for the glow plug renewal.

Urghhh. Maybe will wait until the weather gets a bit better before setting aside a whole day to take everything to bits and refit. Such a pain for what is usually a simple job on any other car.

I can get fingers to the other bolt on the starter so might see if it can be done without removing everything, just some hoses maybe.