The starter motor on my 2K max is screetching on cold start. I started off thinking it the job to regrease the gears on the starter would be easy till I hit the roadblock -- that little black cable attached to the motor using a wierd connector (http://www.motorvate.ca/mvp.php/516).

The small black cable connector was something I could not unclick (like some other connectors). Has anyone done the starter job on a 2K Max because the website above relates to a previous year Max.

Thx,

 

good question. I have yet to fix my screeching starter because of that cable

 

Friends -- any thoughts/suggestions to get this little naughty connector to behave itself...

 

Well...I did the starter regreasing on my 2k. This was a while back so I don't remember too much. I did do a write-up in the how-to section. Check it out. As far as that connector is should just unclip. Examine it and see where the latch is on it.

 

i have this very same problem...although i had no idea what was the source. thanks guys.

 

Are you talking about screetching after it is started.

 

OK. Here goes what I did and my car “runs” after the 5 hr job on the starter and motor.

BTW only do this job if you have the right set of tools (not the ones we get in Walmart Stores which incidently I used and had a nightmare accessing the screws/nuts) -- I was able to get all this done thanks to my wife's tiny fingers which helped access those tough sections --- man kind Nissan put this motor in a more accessible place, that is why I love to look under the hood of a Toyota/Acura -- lots and lots of place to work and most of the critical hardware nicely accessible for repair....

Please follow all instructions from motorvate.ca website to the most part like removing the MAF and air intake ducts etc -- once correction from the article is the one marked in the circle is a starter ONLY and the motor is adjacent to the starter -- the problem is not with the starter but with the motor.

The small black cable is real easy to unclick. First in foremost the +ve of the battery goes over this connector. There is a black plastic clamp that holds the large connector to the chasis. Unclamp this plastic clamp and the connector is visible. At the bottom of the connector it is held onto the chasis with a standerd split plastic kind of thing. From the bottom press the plastic thing and the connector comes out . Then unclick as any other connector in the car.

Now comes the fun part. There are two nuts to the back of the starter (the starter is the one marked in the circle in the motorvate.ca website). Removing the small starter is the tough part as coolant hoses, AC hoses etc are over this starter. Anyway it will be nice if you had a 4mm/5mm screw driver that was real long to access the nuts. The starter then comes off easily and you will see a plastic hook from the starter to the motor – this starter just moves the motor gear and by the nature of Faraday’s Law of Electromagnetic Induction the motor picks up rotation.... (high fi right – well read this in my 2nd year of my engg program). Please remember that the small hole in the starter hardware needs to be pluged onto the plastic hook.

Now only the starter has come off -- there is the motor right behind it and it is held in place by two 4/5 inch long nuts that are easy to access as they are on the right side of the motor. Once the two long nuts are removed the motor comes off. Now the gear block is still held to the chasis – use a screw driver to push the gear out. You will realise that the motor is really long since half of the motor i.e gears are still held onto the chasis. Once the gear portion is removed the plastic hook from the starter falls off. Remember the plastic hook is held flimisly to the gears (not inside the gears) but there is a small grove where it sits onto the gear hardware (you will have to put it back the way you take it off – dont slide the plastic hook into the gears, there is a slot above the gear where it resides ... this is the one that creates the initial motion from where the motor picks up).

Once the gear and motor hardware was removed – There was no grease on the gears (either the main gear or the miniature tiny gears). Note: There is a small aluminium plate that separates the gear and motor compartments .... In the motor hardware compartment all the grease will like small black rounds mud like stuff .. not mud in the literal terms). The grease was all burnt out and using carborator cleaner cleaned the motor (there are two tiny screws on the motor – remove them and you will see all the grime on the magnets and copper coils). Once this is cleaned go to the gear hardware and clean it with degreaser. Remove the main and miniature gears and regrease the inside of the main gear and put the tiny gears back and rotate the gears and you will see the small gears pick up the grease from the main gear. Please don’t over grease (I used Mobil 1 high temp syn grease that I bought in Autozone for $6). Also add the grease the the grooved part of the gear which is behind main gear and only a small portion of that gear is visible to the eye).

Now comes the real tough part – putting it back together... Put the small aluminium plate between the motor and gears, the plastic hook in the groove above the upper gear and as a whole piece push it into the shaft hole (while removing the gear and motor compartments come of individually but when putting it back put is back as once piece becoz I had a hard time aligning holding the motor and putting in these large nuts)...
It will take many tries to put it back into the shaft openining but with some patience it will eventually sit inside the shaft hole. Now tighten the motor/gear long screws and see it doesn’t shake... Now coming to the starter – put the plastic hook into the hole in the starter hardware (there is a metallic **** with a hole in the center – this hook should go into the hole).

End. Put all things back from where it came out.

My screeching has stopped and Iam excited -- I have sore muscles and paining back... that is what this job gave me in return. Remember it will take close to 5 hrs to do this job -- professionals could do it better since they have good tools.

 

5 hours !? !? ?!?!!!

 

5 hours is rough, i hope my car doesnt start to screech

 

One can bet that this is quite common after 60K in any car -- but the design of 2K Max is weird, stupid hard hoses all over the place!!!!

I am curious to know how much Nissan would charge for regreasing the motor gears.... (atleast 2 hrs = $180).

Any Nissan rep -- comment please!

 

what ****es me off is we shouldn't have to do that, we bought a car "Nissan" for reliability, at least i did, and for having no problems. The thought that almost every person with a 2000 that i talked to said they had this problem, along with ignition coils, MAFs and other things. Im not *****ing im just saying that next time i guess im definitly going to pay the etc amount of money and go with the infiniti.


brandon

 

I simply bought a new starter... solved my problem

 

How much was the new starter?

How long did it take to do the disassembly/regrease/reassembly of the starter only - not including the time to take it off and put it on the car.

Mine is off while I'm doing the clutch.

 

The starter is not regreased but the motor adjacent to the starter. All that the starter is a cylinderical metallic block with a well and in the well sits a spring and another block with a hole in it where the plastic hook is inserted. When the car is started an electical pulse from the battery goes to this starter and it pulls the hooked metallic component into the well which inturn pulls the motor gear into the magentic feild created in the motor's electrical block where the magnets & coil structure is housed. This initial rapid jerk to push the gear into the motors' electrical compartment induces the induction after which it the gear begins to rotate by laws of physics.

Hope this helps... The fact that my motor is not screeching itself makes me feel better though my soreness has gotten worse..

 

New starter was $140 from Autozone

 

2k maxes seem to have a few glitches: however, I would not go as fat as to give it up, or regreting my purchase. I bought mine, in Mas. And im in UT, with only pics and a carfax. Turned out great, some luck but mostly the fact that I knew it is a reliable, well built car. Doesnt have much more glitches than your standard mazda, or even a honda. These problems are a pain, but there fixable. Mine I had a MAF problem (fixed by throttle body cleaner, and scrething starter, fixed by relubing the starter . ) and also I had a fuel pump replaced. every car is gonna give you trouble, its just find out which ones give you less...

 

Nice physics explanation! Yeah, I misused the term starter - but I meant the motor.

How long did it take to do the motor - only? I have the starter assembly off the car. I guess I'm concerned about taking it apart and putting it back together again . . . even though I am confident about taking half the car apart to do the clutch.

 

Degreasing (used degreaser) and regreasing the motor gears and removing the grime on the magnets (used carborator cleaner) a total of 30 min.
The fun part is putting back the whole motor assembly (gear and electical parts) as one piece from where it came out. You may take sometime to seat this stuff -- trial and error and then bang it goes in..

Just follow the instructions I have in this thread and you will be fine. Trust me when I can do it anyone else can do it.

In short the motor job will atleast take 1 hr.

 

what kind of grease, have you guys used?