I paid for a ferraristarter.com gear reduction starter 2 months ago & it is still no closer to being delivered so I too am rebuilding an original as I want to get the car on the road. My original unit is the same as the one pictured above. The power switch in the solenoid has a copper bar that is pushed up to meet the two terminals. Does anyone know if the terminals & copper block are available to repair the old solenoid? They look like they are designed to be replaced & seem to be the weak link with these starters. Cheers Al
Guys, I was trying to be not so serious, had intended to put a after my post but must have forgot. Good luck getting it fixed so you can drive your car ASAP.
I removed the old starter today in the hope that my gear reduction starter will arrive one day. I have ordered a Hi-Torque starter from CAEnterprises as they had all the parts in stock to build it up. It is almost twice the price of the ferraristarters unit but I want to get the car on the road. I had previously removed the starter from my left hand drive car (it was playing up as well) & it was so easy compared to the right hand drive car I just removed the starter from. The LHD had so much more space due to the firewall differences, lack of steering shaft & the exhaust pipes practically fell out. The RHD was another story all together & the tools I used to remove the LHD starter were no longer any use. In the end I ground down an old 17mm spanner to get the top starter nut undone. I took apart the two solenoids from the old starters & was surprised to see a copper bolt had been used to try & repair the contact in the RHD one! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I received my Hi-Torque starter from CAE Performance products. But the starter will not fit as a replacement for the Magnetti Marelli MT21T-1.8/12VOLT as listed. The mounting holes are 13mm compared with the 12.5 on the original starter but still wont fit over the studs as the mounting hole centres are about 2mm wider than the original. The power out of the solenoid to the starter pushes hard up against the sump ridge even on the furthermost adjusting hole & then there is not enough room to fit the lower mounting nut. CAE claim to have sold 3 of these so far for use in the 400's & the others were not returned so therefor their starters fit. After arguing with them I finally got a refund of $770 out of $858 so it ended up costing me $88 to find out their starters are not suitable replacements as listed. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
That is distressing to hear, Al. You would think that they would not charge you anything, not even shipping costs, to return a starter to them that they advertised as fitting your car but that doesn't.
Just for anyone who who needs one - this a picture of the starter I can supply; it's currently in stock and a similar price to others, but with better quality workings - alledgedly ;-) I know there won't be a rush of enquiries, but I am away on holiday until 26th... Cheers, Howard. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I received my new starter from Howard this morning & I'm most impressed. The difference between this unit & the CAE Hi-torque I tried is like chalk & cheese. This unit fits neatly over the mounting studs & has lots of clearance to the ridge on the block. It also has lots more access to the bottom mounting nut. After a couple of false starts - paying ferraristarters.com for a starter & eventually getting my money back after 3 months because they could not supply one & then buying a CAE Hi-torque unit that did not fit which left me out of pocket $88 after returning it because it did not fit, I now can't wait to get the car running again. Thanks again for all your help Howard. Cheers Al Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hope you guys don't mind coming back to this. I took the 412 out last Friday; beautiful day, nice ride to a show at my former place of work. Ride home was nice but getting hot. About 15 miles into the trip, I stopped at a dealer to check out a ride for my wife. Shut the 412 down in the lot and everyone that walked by had to check it out. After about 10 minutes, I was done looking and hopped back in with the admiring salesman watching...turned the key and nothing. I swapped the relay in the panel above the glove box, and could feel it engaging and disengaging with the ignition switch. Tried for a while, tried a boost box to get a little more juice...nothing. Called AAA. Waited. After them bumped my time out another hour, I figured another futile try was worth it; now sitting 50 minutes. Second try and it fired up. Cancelled my AAA call and was on my way. Got home and in the garage; shut it off. Ignition back on and no starter response. Left it overnight and started fine in the AM. Marc (PO) says the starter was replaced with a high torque unit. I don't know which brand, and can check receipts. My first thought was to put heat shields in place, but it sounds like there should already be some, so I will have to check. Any updates to thoughts already issued above?
I can highly recommend the starter sold by Howard. I have had this on the road for 12 months now & hot or cold starts are no problem. I'm very happy with this starter. Cheers Al
The hot / cold issue is likely related to corrosion or poor connections at any of the high amp connections. This does not sound like a starter issue; it sounds like an amp issue from battery to starter. I had a tow truck take me home one day and driver and I started to push uphill into garage; I said hold on and it fired right up! I still have same original starter but I cleaned all terminals and no problem in last 2 years. Ken
Well Ken, since you started this thread with what sounds like the same story, it's worth going for it. You are probably right if that worked for you since this starter has been replaced a couple of times in the car's life already. Meanwhile, Howard is checking price and availability. Will update after I try cleaning...I do know there is oil on some wires in the area.! Thanks.
Replaced the cable from the battery to the body going from a #4 to a #1, cleaning the connections. Got towed home from the bank when she failed to respond. All fine later that evening while in the garage. Removed the nut on the starter from underneath. Had to use the Dremel to remove some material on the starter housing to clear the nut to go back on, then installed the #4 cable from the stud to the chassis ground. Found that the flat blade connector on the starter was a little loose; hard to reach. Removed it and squeezed it a little to tighten it; had to remove the positive cable to get back at the connection to push it on tightly. Then removed and cleaned up the braided strap from the frame to engine / trans under the driver's side. That should clear up any ground issues. Trick now is it is getting to be winter...ready for storage...won't get a good test until spring...
Wayne My best guess to my solution was the positive connector on starter was a bit loose or a little corrosion on washer. Its been two years now and no further issues with starter. (now alternators is another story but I know how to deal with it as well.) Ken
After a 3+ hour ride this morning, AFTER I got home, I shut down and then successfully restarted...twice with a dwell of ~30 minutes btwn. I think I got it!!
