Have you ever wondered what kind of auto service do your car needs?
It is up to the starting mechanism to crank the engine over. The starting system is made up of batteries, wires, starter relay, starter control loop, starter solenoid, starter motor, starter drive, and ring gear for the flywheel. The starter motor is an electrical machine that converts electricity into motion to turn the engine over. To rotate the armature inside the starter motor, the forces of like and unlike poles in a magnet are used. The starter’s armature turns the drive gear, turns the ring gear on the flywheel when it is engaged and turns the engine over.
Components for starter
The starter motor is an electrical machine that converts the torque of electricity. The main parts of starter motors are the housing made of steel which helps to absorb the magnetic field, providing a grounding path and a powerful mounting element. The armature is the starter’s output which has conductor loops that attach to the armature’s switch end on opposite sides. The switch end has copper bars or segments connecting to the loops of the armature and a magnetic field is generated when energy passes through the armature loops. This magnetic field responds and tries to move out of that field against the magnetic field produced by the field coils.
Because at each end, the armature shaft is protected by bushings that are rotated by the armature. Next, brushes are used to attach the rotating armature to the electrical connection. To complete the circuit, there are 2 positive brushes connected to the power and 2 negative brushes connected to the grounded starter housing. The armature does not power the starter drive directly on the gear reduction starters and in a planetary gear array, the armature drives a sun gear. The planetary gear package is made up of a sun gear, ring gear and pinion gear planetary carrier.
The start drive output is from the carrier when retaining the ring gear, the gear set helps the starter to multiply by approximately 3.5 to one torque. Furthermore, the starter is much smaller and lighter than a direct drive starter in comparison. Besides that, the starter drive or drive of Bendix slips on the armature over splines. When engaged, the flywheel ring gear teeth are meshed and the engine is turned over. It also has a one-way clutch built into it so it doesn’t over-rev the starter when the engine starts the one-way clutch releases. The starter nose or drive housing provides the flywheel housing for the starter surface as it also needs a bushing to secure the armature and a solenoid brace.
To order to fit a number of engines on a heavy-duty motor, the starter drive housing may have a bolt on the mounting ring which can be rotated or “clocked” for different mounting arrangements. The end cap or housing incorporates a bushing that protects the other end of the armature, includes a ground stud for negative battery connections and may have a normally closed temperature switch that will open at a specific temperature to protect the starter from severe cranking overheating.
The Starting System Controls
Beginning at the batteries, the control circuit for the starter continues into the vehicle’s passenger compartment and then back to the starter. The most important components were, main turn on older heavy-duty trucks and likely a start button. The battery voltage is sent to the relay coil or magnetic switch coil when the main switch is rotated to the spring loaded starting position. Through closing the relay contacts, it will send power to the “S” terminal on the starter when the starter relay is energized.
It decreases the amperage load on the key switch circuit due to isolation of the high amperage circuit from the key switch. Only relay coil is operated by the key switch. Most of today’s cars use the main switch as an input into the powertrain. The computer is controlling the relay for the beginning and using the start relay or magnetic switch, the amperage used to control the starter is cut.
Normally the relay coil has power from the main switch and grounds through the starter thermal switch. The switch contacts on the starter solenoid have one connected to the battery and the other to the “S” terminal. So when the coil is energized, the energy of the battery will be sent to the “S” terminal in order to engage the starter. In automatic transmissions, the neutral safety switch is used. Only in Neutral and Park (when equipped) does it let the starter crank. If the key is turned to start in the reverse or forward drive position, nothing should happen.
For manual transmissions, the clutch switch is used and causes the engine to turn only when the clutch is put in. Usually the switch is open and closes as the lever of the clutch is moved near the floor. The main switch, neutral safety switch, and clutch switch are outputs to the machine if the vehicle has a computer controlled starting mechanism. The starter relay is operated by the computer to power the starter. You’re asking the machine to crank the engine when you turn the key to start.
Testing and Diagnosis of the Starting System
The start and end of the process at the batteries. The first items that should be tested with the battery cables should be the batteries. If the starter is checked without understanding the state of the system’s other places, it could lead to a replacement of a good starter and there is still a problem that caused the starter to go wrong. For the battery test, repair any battery problems before going on to the starter such as, Specific Gravity Test, Battery Load Tests, Static or Open Circuit Voltage Tests and Capacitance or Conductance Tests.
Tests for initial voltage drop
To search for poor connections or unnecessary circuit resistance, voltage fall tests are used. The starter has three different circuits for turning the engine together. An issue in one of the three could cause a problem of no-crank or slow-crank. The engine must be disconnected in order to do a start voltage drop test, so it can crank but not start.
Conclusion
One of the main reasons the car needs to be serviced is to make sure it’s safe to drive. It should also be required to get a regular check from the mechanics to ensure that there are no other underlying issues that may happen when driving. When you do not do regular maintenance” of your vehicle, there will be some reduction in the mean time for a breakdown that needs immediate repair.
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