**UPDATE** Eric the car guy has made a video (youtu.be/Eric’s-video) about how to remove said starter from underneath. It’s interesting, but my bolts were so tight, I’m not sure I could have done it that way… plus I didn’t have the special long bolt at the back that his motor had. Lucky him. Not easy from underneath, but not easy from the top either…. Watch and read and make up your own mind. Good luck! **update end**

The downside was that it took 4 hours to remove the thing that needed cleaning!

Removing the starter motor on a Honda CRV…

…has to be the most complicated starter motor removal ever, but faced with a strange noise every time the car was started, there really was no choice as the last thing I needed was to damage the flywheel teeth. But, new starters are expensive so I took a gamble (since the motor seemed to run OK), I decided to remove the starter and take a look inside (to see if there was a ‘smoking gun’), before deciding what to do.

After some time….

My commiserations go to anyone with a similar problem and my profound congratulations go to anyone who has managed to remove a starter motor from the CRV because it’s a doozy!  Starter motors are usually relatively easy to remove with a little contortion and long arms. But on the Honda you need to remove the bonnet catch, the throttle cable, the front top radiator rail, the inlet manifold and fuel related stuff, disconnect the cooling pipes, vacuum pipes, a bunch of wiring and the bottom valence… just to get to the motor. Phew!

Now don’t get me wrong, the work was all quite easy to do (apart from the little vacuum pipe underneath), it’s just that there was a lot of it to do; just seemed a little extreme is all.

I followed the instructions in the ‘good book‘, apart from draining the cooling system (I just plugged the pipes as I took them off) and managed not to break anything (my biggest fear removing this much stuff on a ten year old motor).

The carnage. Motor removed (ps. liquid around hole is WD40…bolts are very tight!)

What I found  inside the starter motor astounded me. A huge build up of carbon and copper looking particles, muck and crud. The solenoid/plunger (bit that pulls the starter motor teeth into the flywheel) was also sluggish and caked with old grease. I carefully brushed and blew out all the crud around the brushes and cleaned the commutator using very fine emery cloth until it shone and carefully scraped out the muck from between the segments.

I cleaned up the plunger in the solenoid and very lightly lubricated it with high temp, metal free lube (still not sure about this though, worried it might get caked again). Then it was a little more high temp grease on the plastic gears and a drop of thin oil on the starter gear shaft.

Refitting was of course easier than removal (apart from replacing said little vacuum pipe!) and didn’t take long at all. This was all a week or so ago and so far no repeat of any strange noises. Long may it continue, but if it does get caked up again, at least I know how to get the starter motor off and next time I might try removing the plunger completely, polishing it up and lubing with dry graphite….

There you have it; removing the starter motor on a Honda CRV, the most complicated starter removal on the planet! Moral of the story is ‘don’t be too quick to condemn a machine’, sometimes a good clean up and re-lube is all that’s needed. Bucks saved? Lots. Didn’t work? Sorry about that, head over to Micks Garage for a new one…

Stay well

Ian