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Hello fellow knuckle skinning fans 
We recently had an EC 15 that had a starter motor that intermittantly wasn't releasing when the engine was started, and continued to 'mesh' with the crown ring on the fly wheel when the engine was running.
If this was allowed to continue, the motor would burn out, and possibly catch fire leading to an expensive (or catastrophic) repair. The suspected cause was the starter motor relay, but both the ignition switch has to be checked for ingress of water and general failure (if its a canopy machine especially) and the starter removed and inspected for problems with the pull hold circuit and throw out mechanism.
Well .. starter removal is almost an engine out job on this machine, as one of its major failings is that there is no hatch through from the cab to the engine, to remove it
and its on the fire wall side.
However there are a few things you can do to make your life easier .. but put aside 2 to 3 hours to get the damn thing out.
First you need to remove all the air filter and fuel filter gubbins .. disconnect all the hoses and remove the plate with 3 bolts ontop of the fuel tank and all the filters will come away.. watch though .. you need to disconnect the air filter sensor connectors and the 12V power outlet socket will still be attached, dont bother with its fiddly 7mm connectors, just undo the 13mm nut on its mount bracket and it slips off the plate
Then disconnect the fuel send line, the return line, and the breather line and whip out the fuel tank
Img_1566.jpg
Underneath it .. as shown above ..disconnect the high pressure pump output line as there is no slack on it what so ever and will not allow you to pull the engine forward
I have photos of my work, but I only thought about posting it after I had a lot of stuff removed
Anyway the next thing is to drop off the back ballast at its four bolt fixings and then... use the little free movement on the engine tray, and slide the engine out to give you more room round the back, I've posted elsewhere about doing this, but basically the engine sits in a tray that bolts to the digger chassis in 3 places .... one 18mm bolt on the right under the RAD and 2 on the left as you stand looking at it from the back, the front one is visible but the second one isnt, its recessed under the engine, but theres a hole in the digger floor pan to let you get to it.
Once you have them removed the whole tray will slide out 2 inches .. not a lot .. but its vital to let you get access to the starter .. and the real bad guy in this job .. the exhaust.gif "thumbs up")
First you need to remove the down pipe from the exhaust manifold
Img_1567.jpgImg_1565.jpg
Both these pics have the pipe removed (and the starter cos I took this shot at the end of the job) but you cannot get to the starter lower bolt without taking this pipe off or the manifold sooooooo.. then you have to drop the manifold box off (after undoing the starter harness)
and its a pig ...... it has two mounting bolts on the top and one you need to get from below
Img_1569.jpg
the pic above shows the two bolts on the top mount attached to the engine mount and where they would mate up, with the bolts removed the box is dropped down
but you need to do the underside one too from below AND the one on the tail pipe attached to the fly wheel housing to allow it to drop completely .. YOU WILL NOT GET ACCESS TO THE BOTTOM STARTER MOTOR BOLT WITHOUT DOING THIS !!
And to make matters worse the Cunning @*%^$???? at Volvo have put a 15mm nut on a 17mm bolt which you have to work with blind to get these three bolts out, which will then drop the box
After all of this you will get access to the bottom starter motor 12mm bolt and be able to remove it, and you will have your prize
Img_1571.jpgImg_1564.jpg
To finish this story .. the starter was working perfectly after checking !! .. welcome to plant repairs everyone
We recently had an EC 15 that had a starter motor that intermittantly wasn't releasing when the engine was started, and continued to 'mesh' with the crown ring on the fly wheel when the engine was running.
If this was allowed to continue, the motor would burn out, and possibly catch fire leading to an expensive (or catastrophic) repair. The suspected cause was the starter motor relay, but both the ignition switch has to be checked for ingress of water and general failure (if its a canopy machine especially) and the starter removed and inspected for problems with the pull hold circuit and throw out mechanism.
Well .. starter removal is almost an engine out job on this machine, as one of its major failings is that there is no hatch through from the cab to the engine, to remove it
and its on the fire wall side.However there are a few things you can do to make your life easier .. but put aside 2 to 3 hours to get the damn thing out.
First you need to remove all the air filter and fuel filter gubbins .. disconnect all the hoses and remove the plate with 3 bolts ontop of the fuel tank and all the filters will come away.. watch though .. you need to disconnect the air filter sensor connectors and the 12V power outlet socket will still be attached, dont bother with its fiddly 7mm connectors, just undo the 13mm nut on its mount bracket and it slips off the plate
Then disconnect the fuel send line, the return line, and the breather line and whip out the fuel tank
Img_1566.jpg
Underneath it .. as shown above ..disconnect the high pressure pump output line as there is no slack on it what so ever and will not allow you to pull the engine forward
I have photos of my work, but I only thought about posting it after I had a lot of stuff removed
Anyway the next thing is to drop off the back ballast at its four bolt fixings and then... use the little free movement on the engine tray, and slide the engine out to give you more room round the back, I've posted elsewhere about doing this, but basically the engine sits in a tray that bolts to the digger chassis in 3 places .... one 18mm bolt on the right under the RAD and 2 on the left as you stand looking at it from the back, the front one is visible but the second one isnt, its recessed under the engine, but theres a hole in the digger floor pan to let you get to it.
Once you have them removed the whole tray will slide out 2 inches .. not a lot .. but its vital to let you get access to the starter .. and the real bad guy in this job .. the exhaust
First you need to remove the down pipe from the exhaust manifold
Img_1567.jpgImg_1565.jpg
Both these pics have the pipe removed (and the starter cos I took this shot at the end of the job) but you cannot get to the starter lower bolt without taking this pipe off or the manifold sooooooo.. then you have to drop the manifold box off (after undoing the starter harness)
and its a pig ...... it has two mounting bolts on the top and one you need to get from below
Img_1569.jpg
the pic above shows the two bolts on the top mount attached to the engine mount and where they would mate up, with the bolts removed the box is dropped down
but you need to do the underside one too from below AND the one on the tail pipe attached to the fly wheel housing to allow it to drop completely .. YOU WILL NOT GET ACCESS TO THE BOTTOM STARTER MOTOR BOLT WITHOUT DOING THIS !!
And to make matters worse the Cunning @*%^$???? at Volvo have put a 15mm nut on a 17mm bolt which you have to work with blind
to get these three bolts out, which will then drop the box After all of this you will get access to the bottom starter motor 12mm bolt and be able to remove it, and you will have your prize
Img_1571.jpgImg_1564.jpg
To finish this story .. the starter was working perfectly after checking !! .. welcome to plant repairs everyone
.gif "thumbs up")
.gif "rant")
.... nor a ring ratchet, just a plain old ring spanner .. oh and the bolt is torqued to 30000000000Nm .... so you can imagine what its like levering that off with a 5" throw on your spanner 
that wee 
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