Starter removal how to?

[gbmarc]

Tried following the B7 procedure.
Just spent all day on this and on any thoughtfully engineered car, this should take an hour at most.
I have the cat pushed aside and the starter lose, but there's no way this is coming out the top.
It's totally encased by the engine support bracket.

Anyone know how it's done?
Does the whole sway bar, sub frame and who knows what else have to come out to get at this?
Will be eternally grateful if someone knows the magic of how to get this out.
(I think working on my S8 is easier than this!!)

Mark

[jfo]

This is from the manual....

3.2.1 Starter, Removing and Installing
Removing
– With the ignition switched off, disconnect the battery ground
cable. Refer to
⇒ “1.3 Battery, Disconnecting and Connecting”, page 14 .
– Remove the right engine mount. Refer to ⇒ Rep. Gr. 10 ;
Subframe Mount; Engine Mount, Removing and Installing .
– Remove the nut -1- and free up the ground cable on the engine
support.
– Loosen the catalytic converter. Refer to ⇒ 4-Cylinder Direct
Injection 1.8L; 2.0L 4V TFSI Engine (Generation II); Rep. Gr.
26 ; Emissions Control System; Catalytic Converter, Removing
and Installing .
– Remove the bolts -arrows- and the right engine support.
– Remove the bolt -1- for the cable holder -2-.
– Disconnect the connector -3- by sliding the retainer back and
pressing the release down.
– Disconnect the wire -2- from the starter.
– Remove the bolts -1- and -4- and remove the starter.
Note
-Item 1- can be reached from above.
Audi A4 2008 ➤
Electrical Equipment - Edition 02.2016
50 Rep.

edit: This link explains how to remove the mount.The pic links are broken but you can probably figure it out. There are 4 bolts holding the engine support bracket.
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...placement-2-0T

[gbmarc]

OK, thanks.
So it looks like, the engine support bracket has to be removed. The bottom 2 bolts are easy but I can only see one of the top ones and even that one looks pretty inaccessible.
I'll give it a try tomorrow. Let my body recover today!

[jfo]

OK, thanks.
So it looks like, the engine support bracket has to be removed. The bottom 2 bolts are easy but I can only see one of the top ones and even that one looks pretty inaccessible.
I'll give it a try tomorrow. Let my body recover today!

Sent you a pm...

[gbmarc]

Finally extracted the starter motor and put it on the bench. With 12v applied to the solenoid, there is a spark and buzz but no movement. i.e. the solenoid fails to throw out the fork and the little cog.
(Not certain why a solenoid fails like this because mechanically I can push out the cog by hand)

Anyway, for anyone else doing this job, it's basically
From the top
"undo cat to turbo" connection and push cat to one side
Undo top starter bolt
Undo engine support bracket (4 bolts, mine only had 3!!), the one that totally encloses the starter motor
Remove RHS engine mount by access thru right wheel well
Undo the electrical connections to starter and pull it out from below.

Mark

[pnbaudi]

I just had to change my starter due to the solenoid going bad and it no longer working. A lot of other information online tells you how to do it with a lot of extra steps. I was able to remove the starter without removing the motor mount or catalytic converter. It's just an 8mm allen bolt on the bottom hole. Then a 16mm regular bolt on the top hole that comes in from the back side. If you remove the right front tire passenger side then you can access that bolt through a hole behind that area. Here is a short video I did showing everything.

https://youtu.be/HcGGsobPwRc

[Theiceman]

I just had to change my starter due to the solenoid going bad and it no longer working. A lot of other information online tells you how to do it with a lot of extra steps. I was able to remove the starter without removing the motor mount or catalytic converter. It's just an 8mm allen bolt on the bottom hole. Then a 16mm regular bolt on the top hole that comes in from the back side. If you remove the right front tire passenger side then you can access that bolt through a hole behind that area. Here is a short video I did showing everything.

https://youtu.be/HcGGsobPwRc

Good work !!!!

I have never done it on my b7 but my previous 2 audis I did it exactly as you did.
I think I removed a cv joint shield too just to give me some ease of access

Sent from my SM-G973W using Audizine mobile app

[pnbaudi]

Thank you.