Outer Limits 4x4 Board

gday my td42 has been becomming harder and harder to start lately and without a really full battery i dont stand a chance of it going.

so have pulled the starter out thinkin maybe brush not making contact... it appears that they were contacting but not very well sometimes (by the wear marks) and soldered connection was poor... fixed now.

i then cleaned complete starter piece by piece as it was full of rust and carbon buildup. Around the commutator i notice complete build up on mica between segments... so much that it looked more like a slipring then a commy.

My question is would this buildup possibly cause a massive increase in load on starting, which is pulling the volts down?

cheers

It's possible, but I wouldn't think it's likely. It won't hurt to clear it out.

Did you measure the voltage at the battery & the starter while cranking?

A struggling starter may be low on power for a number of reasons.

One, as you've noted, could be low voltage, caused by excess current due to shorting on the commutator.

It could also be low voltage caused by a failing battery simply not able to deliver the cranking amps.

Or it could be low current, due to extra resistance (e.g. dodgy connections) in the circuit.

Check / clean / tighten all the connections in the starter circuit (e.g. battery to starter, starter to engine, engine to chassis, chassis to battery). If that doesn't fix the problem, next step would be to have the battery load tested.

After that, I'm not sure.

cheers mate, have addressed most of that along the way now. Just need to put it all back together then test the battery... i have noticed it isnt green in the indicator built in...and did take 2.5 days on charge to get the charger to say it was charged. it is only new since after expo weekend - but got it from wreckers as i was stuck with two beggard ones in brissy. maybe was sitting there a while. is AC DELCO brand - wonder how they go for warranty???

Should be 2 year warranty I think mate. I use them and have bought 2 in the last year, normally a great battery