gbmarc

I've found results for the B6 and B7 but nothing for the B8.
Anyone have a procedure before I go out in the 90F heat and figure it out myself?

gbmarc

Just spent all day on this.
I have the cat pushed aside and the starter lose, but there's no way this is coming out the top.
It's totally encased by the engine support bracket.
The engineering is so bad!
Anyone know how it's done?
Does the whole sway bar, sub frame and who knows what else have to come out to get at this?
Maybe the engine has to come out!!!!

oaktreelimb

The right engine bracket must be removed to get the starter out. You don't have to remove engine or turbocharger to do it. Best way is using engine support to hang the engine then remove right motor mount and engine bracket then starter. Make sure to disconnect battery power to starter from power station in plenum area first.

gbmarc

Finally extracted the starter motor and put it on the bench. With 12v applied to the solenoid, there is a buzz but no movement. i.e. the solenoid fails to throw out the fork and the little cog.
(Not certain why a solenoid fails like this because mechanically I can push out the cog by hand)

Anyway, for anyone else doing this job, it's basically
From the top
"undo cat to turbo" connection and push cat to one side
Undo top starter bolt
Undo engine support bracket (4 bolts, mine only had 3!!), the one that totally encloses the starter motor
Remove RHS engine mount by access thru right wheel well
Undo the electrical connections to starter and pull it out from below.

Mark

gbmarc

Just one more postscript to this story.
I purchased a rebuilt starter.
I tested it on the bench and everything was fine.
I bolted it in but when I came to refit the engine support bracket (the badly positioned one that totally encloses the starter motor) it wouldn't go on because something was blocking it.
This took me a while to figure out, because I thought I had identical starter motors. It turns out that the big fat positive cable from the battery was getting in the way. When you rebuild a starter solenoid you can rotate the terminals at the back side. On my rebuilt starter they were rotated about 90 degrees. This will not work. The cable will then hit the bracket or the engine block. What's more you can't simply rotate the solenoid internals. (Well, you can, but only in increments of 120 degrees by unscrewing the 3 mounting bolts round the front). So just a warning. I had to customize the cable attachment tab to move it out of the way.

One more helpful hint:
When unbolting the 4 bolts that connect the CAT to turbo in order to push it to one side, the bottom inner bolt is a real pain to reach. The secret is to get to it AFTER you have removed the RH engine mount. Then you can access it relatively easily from below.