Again with the starter!!!

 Since the summer of 25 I have been having what I thought were battery issues. At times I could leave home and run errands and then somewhere on the way home the 109 would fail to start. Often enough that I bought a Avapow 6000 jump pack. I would hook up the jump pack, turn the key and POW it started! Even after no clicks with the key.

     I suspected the battery because the instant start with the jump pack and the fact that it was 13.5 years old. It was a Sears Platinum marine dual purpose deep cycle AGM with 1150CCA, a 31M battery. My guess is it had worn out it's welcome. Since I was spending money on my roof and paint and rain gutters I put off the battery issue since I wasn't driving often.

   So it wouldn't start, I'd charge the battery with my NOCO genius 5 charger and it would start. I did this a few times in Dec and into Jan. Always with the same result. It would start at home and my dash voltmeter showed 13v+ while running/driving. Then I would hit the hardware store or Foster's and no go. 

    Of course over all this time I checked for loose connections on the battery terminals, fuse box, starter solenoid. They all seemed good. Very confusing and frustrating.

   Two weeks ago I bought an Ancel car battery tester to check the battery internals. 

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M0ARG3X?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

   I got good readings on my battery when fully charged, but it would be 14.4v and I would take it off the charger and it would drop down to 12.88 over the hours. Heck I kept it charging all night and it was 14.4v in the morning and it dropped to 13.23v with the charger on during the day! The Ancel still said good battery..... I ordered a new starter solenoid off Ebay just incase; 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/271570739389?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11401.m144671.l197929&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=7d576e77b02b4023ab52eff7f863259e&bu=43519496236&exe=0&ext=0&osub=-1%7E1&crd=20260117071536&segname=11401

    I asked one of my neighbors over he used to work on aircraft in the USN, so I figured he knew more than I(not too difficult!) I hooked up the Ancel and pressed the test button and it said REPLACE BATTERY My first indicator the battery was bad.

     Three days later I went to Batteries Plus and bought a new AGM dual purpose deep cycle battery only this time Money held me back and I bought a group 27 with 900CCA and not the bigger 31. It was $550.....  Swapped it right in the parking lot, turned the key...click.......tried again and it fired right up! WHEW! had me worried!

     Then I went grocery shopping and it wouldn't start. WTF!!!!!!! I jumped it and came straight home ignoring my other errands.

     Put away groceries and scrutinized my wiring diagrams. One thing kept popping into my mind, WTF! WTF? The next day I frelling checked everything I could with multimeter, test lamp, wriggling, pulling on switches, terminals, connectors, pulling what little hair I have out. You don't want to see that picture.......  Finding nothing I decided to pull the starter.

     I began that yesterday and nothing came out willingly! You know the drill? Remove bonnet tire, Throw back bonnet, disconnect battery and all hot leads to it.  Remove and clean ground strap from engine to chassis, just in case, reinstall. Undo wires at starter solenoid. Remove 17mm nut from bottom, 17mm bolts from top of starter. Try to wiggle starter out. Realize the ground strap is in the way. Remove ground strap. Wiggle starter more. Realize the exhaust down pipe is in the way. Undo clamp at bottom of down pipe. Try to wiggle the fuck out of it and it doesn't move. Remove the clamp to the rear with the donut inside. Ya need that donut out to get enough room to wiggle the gd exhaust. Get a frelling huge prybar to wiggle things, 15 minutes later the donut is out. Pry the crap out of the downpipe and nothing moves, but ya keep on trying.  Finally after some god awful energy expense things start moving and with one last tug-a-wiggle the downpipe drops to the ground.

    Then you know the starter can come out because you remember changing it in 2019, 7 years ago! Lots of turning upside down, backwards and more wiggling than a Republican, by moving it further to the front of the 109 it almost falls out.

   I took it over to the battery and put jumper cables on it to test it.

click..........click..........spin..........spin...........

   I then had a good look at the solenoid.

   There are signs of arcing on the nut holding the wire from the solenoid to the starter. I took it to my workbench and pulled that apart.  The nut was kinda tight to rotate but it was not tight on the wire connector. The following pics show the nut and connector

   I began to clean things up as I realized I had found my loose connection and had probably bought an unneeded battery.  I filed the connector flat and wire brushed everything. It was then that I realized that wasn't just some funny UK nut, but the lock washer and flat washer were welded to the nut!

   Well my new solenoid came in the day before, so I started to compare hardware and replace like for like today and get it all "factory". I even pulled out my spare starter which I rebuilt after replacing it with this one. I don't have enough of the thin nuts, which are 8 x 1.25 by the way.  All was clean and flat. I seriously tightened the bottom nuts this time. After all was together, a test with the jumper cables was SPIN BABY SPIN!

   I didn't have time today to put it all back together, due to time constraints. So tomorrow.

   I did take a picture of the old solenoid numbers just in case the one I got is wrong

    So when I sat down to write this I searched my blog for starter. I wanted to see why I replaced the first one and when. As already mentioned it was Feb 2019. The reason was the exact same issue! Now how dumb am I for not remembering that?! Don't answer that! Not only that but when the 19j engine was in It had the same issues but it turned out to be the lower stud was loose on the solenoid. Methinks the starter is too close to the down pipe and excessive/prolonged heat is causing the nut/stud to expand and contract at different rates. What do you think?

https://poppageno.blogspot.com/2019/08/200tdi-starter-replacement-in-series.html

25 Jan 2026

      Yesterday, I put it all back together with much confidence. Got the starter in and hooked up the exhaust pipe and battery cables. The exhaust I held up with a bottle jack whilst I tightened the fasteners.

 So far so good, no fires! I tried the key and Click........click, ...click....What the frell? I was bummed. Thought about it a few min and decided to pull the starter out again and either put in my spare or replace the solenoid. Now I was missing the old day when the solenoid was mounted next to the air cleaner!

     I got it out and kept thinking how I could check it off the vehicle, I still wasn't sure it was not my tractor switch going bad. I figured out I needed to hook up jumper cables just like when installed, ground to the case and power to the upper stud. Then I used a jumper with alligator clips from the + on the battery and I tickled the trigger bayonet fitting and Click......click........click, every time.

    I then got my spare out and tried the same thing and Brrrrrrrrrrr, it sprang to life. So it HAD to be the solenoid.

    That' when I had a bite for lunch and after started swapping the new solenoid for the old. Gotta admit the rubber seal goodie is shit, already has cracks in it and the old one didn't fit. I cleaned up all the crud and evidence of arcing as I went along.

   Then since I was on a roll and had all the tools out I put the starter back in, hooked up all the wires BEFORE doing the exhaust and tested it. Again NO Fires! Lucas didn't let the smoke out. Plus the starter turned the engine and it fired right up! Quickly I shut it down as the exhaust was all in the engine bay and my face.

      The exhaust was reinstalled, amazing how quick when you know the steps. Then I started it again and after shutting it down, put away the tools! I took a shower and had a celebratory beer! My second one this year! Did I say I was on a roll? I don't drink much.

    So today I did an autopsy on the solenoid. My conclusion is there was no obvious failure such as broken wire or crud. Every part that could move did, all the wires were good, on the multimeter all showed continuity. The is as you can see in the pics some evidence of arcing, which I would expect as the magnetic field moves the solenoid to engage. So I dunno. Just lived the good life up to the end!

     Best I can figure is that the magnetic field couldn't move the contact far enough to engage power to the lower stud. You can see there is some melting and shrapnel from arcing. Onr thing which might hace helped with this was the upper inlet power bolt/stud was a tiny bit loose and if it sticks out enough the moving contact will not touch the lower bolt/stud.  In retrospect I think maybe the battery was partly at fault also, if it wasn't putting out enough to make the coil fully move the solenoid contacts.........click.

On with the show!

Note to self; buy another solenoid...............

     

Window repair, long awaited!

 I guess a couple of things have happened. 1) I've lived in this house going on 36 years  2) I've learned a LOT since moving in and working on my 109 was a big part of that, removing and restoring parts 3) It's winter and I'm kinda bored.

   Two days ago I noticed there was overspray on my long window in the living room.

    A little about this window. It was designed to be mounted horizontal(I can tell from the drain holes) but along with other stuff fucked up when someone remodeled before I bought it, it was mounted vertical. There is a casement window in the bedroom mounted upside down.

   Well after maybe 8 years of moving in, the sliding part, which is on the bottom, the glass slipped down leaving a 1/2" gap at the top of the sliding section. At the time I just put duct tape over the gap and never used the slider. 

    I just started by scraping the outside clean of overspray. I swear I didn't think any further! That's when I noticed the gap at the bottom of the window and the damage on the side of the frame. I went to fix the frame thinking it was keeping the window from closing these last 2 decades. So I pulled the slider out and took it to the garage to clean it.

    

   

 Pliers straightened the frame good enough nothing was touching.

      I thought I could just undo one end and reset the glass. Boy was I wrong! I had to take 3 sides off the double pane and then I could slide the remaining side down with a soft hammer. In this way I was able to clean and reset the undistorted seal on the upper portion. While I knew that the issue was gravity pulling the glass down I found a piece of aluminum to act as a spacer and keep the glass from dropping. The bottom however had twisted and re-shaped it's self over the years. I was too involved to manage taking pictures.

    Taking the distorted seal off I found a bar of the same thickness as the glass. To this I clamped a still properly shaped section. Next taking a heat gun I lightly heated the vinyl seal and clamped it down and moved along trying to reset the memory. It worked as the vinyl cooled it reshaped. It was put on the glass and the frame put back together.

    Then it was re-installed in the wall frame. The glass closed all the way down.

      Not done yet....... this window is too narrow and designed to slide and or be taken out when vertical. I decided to cut a piece of foam to block air ingress. Simples measure and cut, re-cut, install. I only did one side.

    Well wonder if I will notice any reduction in heating/cooling? I'll be happier knowing it's done!

Thanks for reading!

    

My wall heater repair!

 Well, as they say, if it ain't one thing it's another!

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving I was having some friends over for dinner. I went to light my pilot light on my wall heater and it wasn't getting any gas. I shut the pilot off usually in May and turn it back on sometime around the end of November. I can go all that time without needing to heat my house as the temps run from mid 50's to mid 80's for much of the time.

    Having lived in the house for 35 years I knew that it could be my valve and it was obsolete. The next day I did some online kungfu and found a place in Houston, TX which supplied parts for my old heater. https://eastwaysales.com/ . I emailed them and told them all I knew about my dual wall, Dearborn wall heater and asked if there was a plug and play replacement control valve. They said probably and asked for pictures. Which I sent and their reply was I needed such and such a model. By now it was late Wed before Thanksgiving.

    I knew it was useless to try to order before Friday and maybe Monday depending on their holiday schedule. 

    I called Friday and talked to Mike, ordered the replacement model in propane. And waited. It was cold Inside my house got down to 47F one morning and I opened the doors for warmth during the day brining it up to 54-55F. When you are the warmest thing in the room it gets cold! I huddled in my 0° sleeping bag.

 The new valve took it's time getting here on Dec 4th, 6 days.....

   First think I noticed was this had only 1 outlet for pilot lights, my old one has 2.

    An email to Mike about it and a recommendation to put in a 1/4" compression tee in the single pilot line.

    In the mean time I pulled the heater apart and began the process of cleaning burners and found that my main pilot to the thermocouple was plugged. That was why it would not light.

    I took that and the old and new valves to a local supplier some 15 miles away. APED , down in Santa Cruz(no website). I explained my issue and  asked for a new pilot light, The guy behind the counter said they could clean it for free and it will probably work fine. So he did that with a tiny cleaner like a tip cleaner for welding(none of mine fit). When I left I forgot my extended compression fitting which came with the new valve, on the counter. It was late on Friday at this point and they are closed all weekend.

  So I put it together with just one pilot. I knew it would work, it's just a loud bang when the far burner ignites. When I emailed Mike he again told me to do 2 pilots! There is a tube between the 2 burners and the gas, hopefully, goes between the 2 burners to lite.

     I probably did more dismantling the first time than the second. 

    Put it back together with the single pilot and could not get the tube to valve nut tight enough and had a micro leak. I knew I needed that extended fitting down at APED and a 1/4" compression tee.

    Monday morning I called and yep it was still there. I saddled up my motorcycle and went down and got it and the tee. I should have gotten some new tubing also.

In this pic you can see the extended fitting, above the knob where it says pilot.

Here you can see the old close fit fitting, due to the shape of the valve body the wrench will slide off and you can not get it tight enough.

     So Tuesday I set about pulling the valve/burner assembly and fitting the extended compression fitting and installing the second pilot and tee.

     Here's where I wished I had new tubing. The old stuff wasn't bent so good and had small kinks in it. I used a trick I learned with brake tubing to straighten it out. Drilling a 1/4" hole in a piece of 2x4, cutting off the old compression fitting, I wiggled and jiggled the tubing thru it until it was straight enough and I could work with it.

It was time consuming doing both tubes and reinstalling them on the burners and fettling around, Bending this that way and keeping access to the nuts for the gas supply hose open. The inner pilot has to go into the tunnel tube and the pipe drop down thru a slot in the frame.

   If you have longer tubes you can spiral bend them to make it easier to move and fit. Once the routing was done I tightened the  nuts since it should be easier outside rather than once installed.

   When I was satisfied with the tubing it was back in the house to put it back into the wall. There are only 4 sheet metal screws holding it in. The wires to the thermostat were hooked up and the inlet gas hose firmly attached, mine took 7/8" wrenches.  The tee nuts were 13mm and the extended fitting 7/16" while the pilot fittings were 1/2". All my screws are Phillips.

   With all tight(I thought) I turned the gas supply on and sprayed the fittings with Windex. I could smell gas right away and as soon as the tee fittings started bubbling I shut the gas off and went to tightening. I am always afraid of going too hard and stripping something. Eventually I got no bubbles.

 After having no bubbles, I lit the pilot closest to me and lo and behold the gas from the other pilot popped and it lit up too. With both pilots lit I went to the thermostat which was set at the lowest setting and moved the lever higher to ignite the burners. It wasn't coming on!??? What now?, stormed thru my brain.

     Then I remembered the knob was still on pilot...... I turned the thermostat down to lowest setting again and set the knob to ON. Moving the thermostat up again and the gas flowed and swoosh went the burners.

I HAD HEAT ON DEMAND!!!!

The cover was reinstalled and job Done!

Thanks to Mike at Eastways and the guys at APED!!!