Starter motor

[Kompulsa]

Starter motors are small, overdriven, and hence are not designed to operate continuously or frequently.

If you can modify your starter and replace the motor in it with one of equal HP and RPM, then this problem will be solved.

Electric motors are always designed with a time rating similar to their expected application. Car starter motors are probably expected to be operated a few times per day, but in many cases, they are just operated twice, and only for about a second.

Find a motor with a longer "time rating". It will be bigger, heavier, and it will cost more, but it will be able to handle the additional work.

The time rating of an electric motor is determined by its ability to stay cool. If it takes 5 seconds to start overheating, then the time rating of the motor is 5 seconds (4 just to be safe), and it will burn out if left on longer than 5 seconds.

Cooling the motor will increase the time rating.

I hope that helps.

[hackish]

Duty cycle is definitely one thing, the heat inside the starter motor needs some place to go. Of course you could probably get some stickable heat sinks that go on the case. In my experience it's normally the bearings or contactor that dies before the windings...

Another thing that can help is to lubricate the pinion gear with a moly based lubricant. Just be careful not to over-do it as you don't want to lube the clutch! This definitely reduces the effort to start the car.

-Michael

[Ryland]

Most owners manuals that I've read say 10 seconds of starter use for every 10 minutes of rest.

[songman]

Mine takes about 1.5 seconds, so that's pretty safe if that guideline is correct.

I still don't know which, between wear to the starter for standard start or wear to the clutch with bump start, is generally held to be preferrable. Maybe it's something of a coin toss.

[Ryland]

I always shift in to the highest reasonable gear, going about 3-4mph down my driveway I put it in 3rd, going over 10mph I put it in 5th gear, letting a teenager drive your car for a week will more then likely cause more wear to your clutch then a year of smooth bump starting it would, I figure if it's enough of a jolt that my passenger noticed something happen then it was to rough.

The clutch slips a lot when you are getting a 2,000+ pound car moving from a dead stop, turning the engine over requires about 2 hp, less if it's already warmed up.

[songman]

What is the best way to clutch bump? Should you aim to do it at around 1000 rpm, ie. around idle speed, and as smoothly as possible? There's obviously more clutch wear with a slow clutch release. I just tried a bump for the first time, around 1500 rpm, and it was a bit jerkier than I was happy with.

[MetroMPG]

See http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...gine-1141.html

I always clutch start one or 2 gears higher than I would normally be using for cruising at the current road speed.

In a quick motion, I nearly fully release the clutch to spin the engine up, then immediately depress the clutch again. The engine will start, and it settles to idle while selecting the appropriate gear (for the road speed/power requirement) to do a smooth clutch re-engagement with rev-matching, if necessary.

Some people say they can just "dump" the clutch in the proper gear and all is well, but it's not as smooth as doing it the way I described.

[PaleMelanesian]

Another experience point: I retired my old 96 Civic at 200,000 miles with the original starter and clutch still going strong. Let's just say I did a LOT of eoc in that car.

[RedDevil]

The art of clutch starting has 2 focus points; use top gear, and engage briskly, but not violently.
Top gear means the speed difference between the clutch plates is lowest, so that is easier on them.
By brisk engage I mean that you have to release the pedal enough to make the engine spin up.
It does no good to release it very gently, slightly rubbing the plates while the engine still does not turn over. But once the engine is turning over, it will quickly attain the revs for the gear.
The trick is to immediately release the clutch pedal just enough to make the engine spin up. That keeps the wear low and the start fluently.

My Insight has auto- stop and pure electric drive on (semi) coast so I'm gradually losing my edge on this art form

[songman]

Thanks - I'd missed that thread.

Trick seems to be to achieve a quickish clutch release up to engine spin, with a clutch re-engagement immediately after the engine catches. I'll give this a go tomorrow.