Starter: general information and device (BMW 3 Series E36)

To start an internal combustion engine, a small electric motor, a starter, is required. To start the engine, the starter must develop up to 300/min. But this only happens with normal operation of the starter and a normally charged battery.

The starter housing contains the drive, poles and collector. The anchor, collector and brush holder are located in the pole and collector housing. The brush holder contains carbon brushes, which are wearing parts and wear out slowly but constantly. If the brushes are heavily worn, the starter will not operate normally.

The drive pinion is located in the front part of the housing. When voltage is supplied to the starter through the ignition switch, the traction relay is triggered and the toothed pinion moves along the oblique thread on the shaft until it stops in engagement with the toothed ring of the flywheel. This ensures that the engine can be rotated by the starter with a sufficient number of revolutions. When the internal combustion engine starts, the toothed wheel of the starter begins to rotate faster than the engine and disengages from the flywheel, interrupting the mechanical connection of the starter with the engine.