PT425 Subaru Starter Blow Out @ 29 Hours

[FAZTRAC]

New PT 425 with Subaru EH72. Hitachi Starter solenoid decides not to disengage at 29 hours. How unfortunate. I shut the motor off and the starter motor is still cranking until I could get a wrench and get a terminal off battery. Bench tested and did the same thing, once powered... would not disengage. Used all the smoke and mirrors I had to get the starter out without pulling the engine. Ended of drilling a hole through the side of the tractor in line with the upper, starter bolt head to get at it with a socket and long extension.The bolt head was buried behind electrical wires under tension. There would be no getting a socket on the bolt head without carefully watching and moving wires out of the way with a long screwdriver. Without hole you are working with mirrors and feel.XXXXXX!!!

Subaru wants to send me only a solenoid. It is true that the solenoid is the culprit, but how long was that starter motor running while I was working the tractor(I wear ear muffs)? I will never trust that starter to have a normal life span after this. We are in the middle of a massive project and we tried to get Subaru/Dealer to send solenoid Fed Ex overnight and told local Subaru dealer we would pay the overnight freight. No show. What a surprise.

Looked up Subaru/Robin parts on the Internet. Good luck getting parts for an EH72. I think I would stand a better chance of getting on the space shuttle. I see no parts look up for Subaru on the Robin web site. The dealer is new to Subaru.... says "their parts look up is very frustrating".

Does anybody else have a parts source? Thanks.

 

[MossRoad]

New PT 425 with Subaru EH72. Hitachi Starter solenoid decides not to disengage at 29 hours. How unfortunate. I shut the motor off and the starter motor is still cranking until I could get a wrench and get a terminal off battery. Bench tested and did the same thing, once powered... would not disengage. Used all the smoke and mirrors I had to get the starter out without pulling the engine. Ended of drilling a hole through the side of the tractor in line with the upper, starter bolt head to get at it with a socket and long extension.The bolt head was buried behind electrical wires under tension. There would be no getting a socket on the bolt head without carefully watching and moving wires out of the way with a long screwdriver. Without hole you are working with mirrors and feel.XXXXXX!!!

Subaru wants to send me only a solenoid. It is true that the solenoid is the culprit, but how long was that starter motor running while I was working the tractor(I wear ear muffs)? I will never trust that starter to have a normal life span after this. We are in the middle of a massive project and we tried to get Subaru/Dealer to send solenoid Fed Ex overnight and told local Subaru dealer we would pay the overnight freight. No show. What a surprise.

Looked up Subaru/Robin parts on the Internet. Good luck getting parts for an EH72. I think I would stand a better chance of getting on the space shuttle. I see no parts look up for Subaru on the Robin web site. The dealer is new to Subaru.... says "their parts look up is very frustrating".

Does anybody else have a parts source? Thanks.

The Robin website is

Subaru Robin

There are parts manuals there for several EH72 engines.

For example, the following link, page 26 shows a complete starter with part number and all of the internal parts exploded by number. Not sure if this is your engine, though.

http://www.robinamerica.com/media/manuals/129248179497999320.pdf

 

[MossRoad]

Also try this parts manual at Jack's small engine. Look on page 40 for the hitachi starter.

http://www.jackssmallengines.com/pd...es/Manuals/eh65,72 Parts, EP1549 rev 0705.pdf

Hope that helps. :thumbsup:

 

[FAZTRAC]

Moss
Thanks so much. I guess I was too aggravated to find anything.
Hopefully at least the solenoid will appear today. I fear I have become
too dependent on this wonderful little machine. It is amazing what it will do
FAZ

 

[MossRoad]

Moss
Thanks so much. I guess I was too aggravated to find anything.
Hopefully at least the solenoid will appear today. I fear I have become
too dependent on this wonderful little machine. It is amazing what it will do
FAZ

Yeah. I could sense the aggravation and urgency in your post. I, too, really have come to depend on out little green beast. So much so, that I have stopped using it for simple things just so I can get some physical exercise. I think I've gained 20 pounds just from owning it! :laughing:

 

[BobRip]

Try Continental Engines at 800-922-5632. I have had good results with them. Very knowledgeable.

 

[Marks481]

I will second jacks small engines.

Here is the EH72 starter motor assembly...

Jacks Small Engines Search

For $299, you might want to rethunk buying the whole assembly.

 

[BobRip]

Yeah. I could sense the aggravation and urgency in your post. I, too, really have come to depend on out little green beast. So much so, that I have stopped using it for simple things just so I can get some physical exercise. I think I've gained 20 pounds just from owning it! :laughing:

You have found the main problem with the PT. You get fat. I now use a wheelbarrow for my firewood just to get some exercise.

 

[J_J]

Using the PT to get the mail is a bit much as the mail box is only 100 yds.

 

[Gravy]

FAZ,

If you get desperate, I still have the OEM standard duty starter laying around. I doubt that it has been used for 50 starts. JackRobin sent me the HD version at no charge to try to fix my cold starting problems. I think it will fit in a USPS medium flat rate box.