Hello everyone, I was wondering if anyone could help a poor student make his car go for another week. My fortnightly student allowance doesn't come for another week, and I just can't spring for the 50 bucks I need to fix the brick right now.

I have a clapped out starter. The thing has plauged me with trouble since it I first tried to start up my re-assembled motor and it the starter cranked once then siezed. I pulled it out and the motor was given to a friend of the family in an Auto-electrics shop. He unjammed it and as far as I know, did some other work on it as well.

Anyway, almost as soon as I got the car back on the road my starter began giving trouble. It seemed at first to be partly battery related, the starter solinoid being more willing with a stronger charge, but even when I was jump-started by a Toyota Landcruiser diesel with two huge batteries, I still had to to hit it with a breaker bar to unstick the solinoid. If I'd paid for a proper service i'd have asked for my money back, but since I got it unjammed for free I wasn't complaining. I just added a new starter to the "when I can afford it" list.

Anyway, as long as I had a good charge, it would eventually start, so for the last few months I've been living with it, and hitting it with a hammer or clutch starting where possible. Last week I siezed it altogether, the solinoid was clicking but the motor just wouldn't turn. I put the battery on a trickle charger, rocked the car, hit it with heavy objects. It took a few days but eventually I got it rolling again.

This lasted till the weekend. On friday night I had to use my last remaining free tow after the starter siezed again in the supermarket carpark. The NRMA mechanic put 1600 AMPs into the the system, hooked up all his meters and test lights, and finally hit it with a hammer. No go. He disappeared for 20 minutes and came back driving a flatbed. (thank god for these guys, I'm really getting my money's worth from my membership)

Problem is I have no money this week, although I've managed to secure an obscenely low price for a second hand starter (with six month warranty) I probably won't be able to get it for about a week and a half.

Now I've got this starter on my desk and it's toast. The solinoid is crap, the motor itself has now jammed on me three times, and as a result of the the solinoid only half engaging 10 times in a row every morning, the teeth look like they've been deliberately machined off. I want to try and unjam it myself and see if I can get another week's driving out of it, and I really don't care if I break it in the attempt, since it's only a paperweight now. How does an amatuer working at their desk in college unjam a starter motor?

Any help would be much apreciated. I go uphill to go to Uni, so if I can start it in the morning, I can clutch it down to get home again. If it doesn't start I'll ride my bike, but it's winter and I'd rather not on a frosty morning.
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Drive it like you hate it