Once a suitable place has been found, it is time to make the car safe. Apply the hand brake and place a chock underneath the wheel. If you are working on the rear then chock the front, vise versa if you intend to work on the front like we are then chock both rear wheels. Look in the Ford owner’s handbook for the best place to jack up the car.
As normal, I will disconnect the battery for safety reasons. This is just a quick turn of a ten-millimeter nut and pull off the terminal.
Now I can turn my attention to removing the starter motor, on my particular model of Ford Fiesta, it is not necessary to remove any other parts. As the starter motor is located on the under side of the vehicle I have ensured it is jacked up and safe to work on. I have removed the near side front wheel just to make climbing underneath a little easier. There are some bolts that are easier to reach from under the bonnet, as is the electric cable that goes from the solenoid to the battery.
After having familiarized myself with the Ford owner’s handbook and manual, I methodically worked my way around removing the bolts and wires. When these where all removed I wiggled the starter out from the under side of the engine. It does take a little twisting and turning but it will fit trust me!
Once removed I could see some ware and tear on the bendx and the solenoid looked a little rusty. This confirmed my decision to change the whole unit.
From what I could see, there where no parts to remove from the old Ford starter motor and replace on the genuine Ford replacement starter motor. It was a simple exchange like for like. Ford always seem to simplify things, which was another reason I chose a Ford car verses other makes. It seemed a little harder to fit the new starter motor through the hole. I think this was because I did not want to scratch the paint and gravity was against me during the re-fitting process.
Once the starter motor was in place and one bolt was in place all be it loosely, I could replace all the bolts. Now my dad always taught me when fitting any part on an engine to fit all the bolts loosely particularly, where the part has multiple bots. This is because it is far easier to locate the holes whilst the replacement unit is loose. If you tighten even one bolt it can be very hard to get the remaining bolt threads started. You just end up loosening the first bolt to accommodate the others.
Once the bolts were tight on the underside, I moved my attention to under the bonnet. With all the bolts tight and the electrics sorted, it was time to replace the wheel, drop the jack and lastly replace the battery lead. A quick turn of the key and my Ford Fiesta roared into life.
My Ford Fiesta has an annoying noise from the back end. It seems to worsen when I accelerate. It drones at high speed. I looked at the trouble shooting section of my Ford owner’s handbook and Ford manual. It seems it could be a wheel bearing. The Ford owners hand book and Ford manual both advise me to jack up the back of the car and with the hand brake off spin the hubs. I did just this and discovered the driver side wheel was very noisy indeed. In comparison to the other quiet side, there was no doubt I need to change the bearing.
The first step is to find a suitable safe area to carry out the repair. It should be level and away from moving traffic. You may wish to cone off the area or use signage to warn people about the repair you are doing.
DO NOT LEAVE THE KEYS IN THE IGNITION AS THIS COULD
RESULT IN SOMEONE TRYING TO MOVE THE CAR AND CAUSE