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Well the next little problem on the Brumby has reared it's ugly head. This time on startup, usually in the morning. But it will do it in the afternoon as well sometimes. Basically it behaves like the battery is dead when I go to start it up i.e starter is struggling to turn over, maybe one rev per second or less. Eventually that single rev is enough for the engine to fire and we're away but it's always disconcerting.

The issue arose when it started getting cold and wintery so my first logical step was getting a new battery...but that made no difference at all Then I thought perhaps the crusty beaten up old lead battery clamps were to blame; put on nice new brass ones...no difference. Checked the earth lead to engine and body...absolutely fine. What am I missing here? could there be a problem with the starter motor itself? I know the alternator is working fine as it puts out a steady voltage, how do I check if the charging system is working?

In the back of my mind I'm starting to think maybe I've encountered my first of the dreaded fusible links issue, or some other quirky wiring issue unique to old subies. It's weird though, sometimes the starter revs right up like normal, other times not so much.

Any ideas?

Starter motor sounds like a likely culprit. Pull it out and take to an auto electrician. They can put it on the bench and test it there and rebuild if necessary.

Did you get a starter with the rusty L Series? I think they are interswappable. Also think it sounds like the copper contacts inside the solenoid going crappy. Hope you kept old , no good battery

Did not swipe the starter from that junk heap, didn't even know they were swappable. Yes I kept the "old" battery...looks like I've got a couple of spares now

I'll swap in the starter from the wagon maybe this weekend and see if it makes any difference. Thanks guys!

auto elecs love replacing the little copper doo dads- about $20 parts fix plus lotsa labour

Well it's fixed now...made me late for work but it's fixed

Geez, I was gonna swap out that starter tomorrow but it just couldn't last 1 more day could it, and I had to flood the bloody thing by accident with the choke button this morning, when that heap of crap old starter was having one of it's moments

Oh well you were right Gannon and Jonno, the other starter is unreal in comparison, and it frees up some time over the weekend