Starter — General Description (Mercedes-Benz C-Class W202)

The combustion engine is started by a small electric motor called a starter. In order to start the engine at all, the starter must accelerate to a speed of at least 300 rpm. This is only possible if the starter is working properly and the battery is sufficiently charged.

The starter consists of a drive housing, a pole housing and a collector housing. The anchor and collector are mounted on bearings in the pole housing and the collector housing, as well as a carbon brush holder. The brush holder contains carbon brushes that wear out slowly but constantly. If the carbon brushes are highly worn out, the starter can no longer operate normally.

The gear drive is installed in the front housing of the drive. When the starter receives voltage after the ignition is switched on, the gear is moved along the steep thread to the toothed rim of the engine flywheel by means of a traction relay installed on the starter housing. As soon as the gear reaches the limiter on the lead screw, it is connected to the flywheel with a force closure. Now the engine starter can be set to the required starting speed. If the car engine accelerates, the gear is accelerated by the engine, therefore it rotates faster than the starter motor for some time and disengages, thereby eliminating the connection of the gear with the internal combustion engine. Since a high current consumption is required to start the engine, then as part of the maintenance, attention should be paid to the perfect connection of the wires. Clean the correlated wire connections and lubricate them with anti-acid pole grease.

(Original source of information: MERCEDESMAN)