[Rai]

Hi All,
My Fiat Petra 1.6 ELX Petrol, has covered 48,000 KMS.

Five days back I had problems in starting the car. Though Battery is fully charged and all electricals were working perfectly, no cranking sound at all. It was dead. My friends helped me to push start the car and for next two days it was working perfectly ...no problems whtsoever for next two days....
But again the same problem repeated after two days. and this time I decided to show it to Mechanic. Very Near my office is Manipal Motors (Bangalore) and I called Mr. Shivaram (service advisor of Fiat in Manipal Motors).... He came promptly with a mechanic and they checked everything and finally push-started the car and took it to Manipal motors. There he checked the starter motor and said starter motor is dead and needs a repair. I agreed on the repair when I found the new starters motors price was around 9.5 K was out of stock.
Normally I don't agree for repair of such parts, rather I go for new.
By evening it was repaired. New Bush, New Brush etc etc. It costed me around Rs. 2600 including labour charges + Tax.

My question is - Was I correct in asking them to repair to Old starter itself ? or should I got the new one?.

By the way, this is my first expense on my Petra - outside the regular service Till now I have not spent anything extra on my Petra other than regular service and ofcourse Petrol Bills!!!!.

Regards
Rai

[GTO]

What's done is done . As long as your car is now working perfectly, I guess you have taken the right decision.

[greatDrive]

New starter motor assembly (including solniod)of Petra/palio 1.6 costs Rs 6700 in delhi. Motor repair may costs between 2000-3000 depending on the damage.
After repair, if wire gauge used & winding etc is done correctly, Its as good as a new so don't bother.
drive safe.

cheers

[bottle]

I faced a similar problem on my 1.2 palio as well at 35k kms. Due to lack of parts it was overhauled and was charged about 2.6k. The service engineers said that it should be fine now and that it would give a tick sound while starting. Couldnt really hear anything myself.

Its been about4 months and no issues so far.

[car4me]

I too have started having similar problem. The car run fines when engine is cold. But when hot, it just wouldn't crank up. Pandit Motors at Pune says it is starter motor problem and it would cost in tune of Rs. 8000.

Where can I get the existing starter motor repaired? Pandit would not do it. :(

Originally Posted by greatDrive

New starter motor assembly (including solniod)of Petra/palio 1.6 costs Rs 6700 in delhi. Motor repair may costs between 2000-3000 depending on the damage.
After repair, if wire gauge used & winding etc is done correctly, Its as good as a new so don't bother.
drive safe.

cheers

[vigsom]

Originally Posted by car4me

The car run fines when engine is cold. But when hot, it just wouldn't crank up. it would cost in tune of Rs. 8000. (

Have you got the battery gravity checked?Please do that first.

Sometimes a weak battery is also responsible for this behaviour.

Assuming that the battery is fine and the starter is indeed the problem,8000 is way too much ; go to Mumbai and have it done at a simple electrician's place.I am sure you'll spend less than 1/4 of what was quoted

[car4me]

Yes, the battery is supposedly fine..

Originally Posted by vigsom

Have you got the battery gravity checked?Please do that first.

[SirAlec]

Check with a borrowed battery. Its definitely a battery problem.

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by car4me

I too have started having similar problem. The car run fines when engine is cold. But when hot, it just wouldn't crank up. Pandit Motors at Pune says it is starter motor problem and it would cost in tune of Rs. 8000. Where can I get the existing starter motor repaired? Pandit would not do it. :(

Any reasonably good Auto electric service center would do the job for you, as starter servicing is not serious.
As the problem appears only when engine is hot, the solenoid could also be a culprit.

Normally I don't agree for repair of such parts, rather I go for new.
By evening it was repaired. New Bush, New Brush etc etc. It costed me around Rs. 2600 including labour charges + Tax.

It is perfectly OK to service the starter motor. The bush and the brush are consumables which needs replacement regularly and for which the full starter motor replacement is not at all required. This service will serve you for another 40K Kms.

By the way, Raj, is your problem solved with that. Do you still have that Petra. Post an update, it is good three years since the repair?

[vipul_singh]

Faced this problem of no crank (when the engine is hot) in my 1.6 GTX at around 70000KMs. The starter was opened, cleaned and brushes replaced. Working fine since then. The expense was a few hundred bucks (IIRC).

The sypmtoms were:

1) No clicking sound from the solenoid when cranking
2) No noticeable voltage drop (lights, instrument cluster) when cranking

The car was diagnosed at Elegant Card (Samyak motors). They did a good job at identifying the problem in one go

[moralfibre]

Originally Posted by car4me

I too have started having similar problem. The car run fines when engine is cold. But when hot, it just wouldn't crank up. Pandit Motors at Pune says it is starter motor problem and it would cost in tune of Rs. 8000.

Where can I get the existing starter motor repaired? Pandit would not do it. :(

It is a starter solenoid problem. Quite common on the Magnetti Marelli starters. Cost of replacement starter = Rs. 1,200/- (approx), cost of entire starter assembly = Rs. 10,000/- (approx). Ask Pandit to sell you a starter solenoid and get it replaced by a competent automotive garage in Pune.

[car4me]

Sorry folks for such a delayed response. I had been sick for over a week and hence did not login. First, thanks to all for their replies. Finally, I found one mechanic who promised to repair the starter motor. I will be taking my car to his private shop next week for the repair. I can not reveal his name yet, because he works at some dealership (non-fiat) as full time and also takes up private jobs.

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by car4me

Yes, the battery is supposedly fine..

Well, I too had the exact same problem in my car, and was a battery issue. Initially when the battery was checked it was fine. What the battery guys checked was just the voltage. But, sp gravity was the culprit. Are you sure they checked the sp gravity?

[car4me]

Update on my car starter problem:

It was the bad solenoid. The mechanic got the new solenoid and also reworked the starter motor. The car is running well. Cost was 4,500. Not bad compared to the 10K plus estimate given by Pandit Motors

[IndigoXLGrandDi]

Originally Posted by vipul_singh

The sypmtoms were:
1) No clicking sound from the solenoid when cranking

Does this clicking sound indicate any malfunctioning?

In our Indigo XL Dicor, when I crank as soon as the Glow Plug Indicator goes OFF, some Clicking Sound comes. If I wait for 5-10 secs after GLow Plug Indicator going OFF, this Clicking Sound does not come while cranking.

Also some times the Glow Plug Indicator does not lit on the instrument panel (even if the engine is cold).

What might be the problem?