Please tell me somebody knows the trick to swapping the starter on the 1986 Trooper turbo equipped vehicle <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/baby.gif" alt="" />
We have looked at this from the bottom the top the side and it looks like the turbo needs to be out of the way <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />
Maybe the intake manifold comes off? Sigh.
So far I haven't reached even the electrical nuts
Desperate in New Mexico

THE DOWN PIPE ON THE EX HAUST HAS TO BE REMOVED, THEN YOU CNA GET TO THE BATT CONNECTIONS AND THEN THE OIL RETURN LINE FROM THE TURBO HAVE TO BE REMOVED AND THE DIPSTICK UNSCREWED FROM THE CRANKCASE , AND THEN YOU CAN REMOVE THE TWO STARTER BOLTS, AND SLIDE THE STARTER FORWARD AND THEN TILT THE NOSE DOWN AND OUT , IT IS TIGHT AND THE ENG HAS TO BE COLD ,IT IS HOT AND TIGHT UP IN THERE AND PROB GREASY, JERRY

Thanks Jerry
I suspect the leaking alternator/vacuum pump is the culprit for the grease

My solution was to cut the inner fender sheet metal and make a removable hatch. The starter was then easy to remove and install. I made a single 6" cut horizontally and since that panel is already a bolt-on I just added a sheet metal patch over my cut and a few screws and you're done. 20 minutes to make the whole thing, saving hours of agony! Do you want a picture?

nice!

Brian's Morning Newsletter for August 5th 2008
Good Morning
What shall I write about this morning when my day yesterday was pretty much as it was the day before? Lots of grease, and impossible mechanical feats, of which I think the worst is behind me. Yesterday I pulled the turbocharger out of the white Trooper and installed it in the Maroon Trooper. As a seasoned do it youselfer I know that the biggest obstacle in most projects is my own brain. As if it wasn't difficult enough to remove and replace the turbocharger from my working truck, I just had to find a reason to pull a second one from the non-running truck. Well, it turns out, and dammit, I should have known this, pulling the turbo charger was quite a bit easier than reinstalling one. I mean, when I lost three out of four nuts upon removing the turbo because I couldn't see nor reach the little bastards, I should have made, at the very least, a mental note, that those nuts were going to be impossible to get back in place, right? Whether naive or dumb, I managed to get three new nuts in place by holding each one in place with a small hook and turning it gingerly with a long thin screw driver. I imagined myself a surgeon remotely suturing an organ in place. The only problem was, the nut I decided to do last even though it didn't to my mind seem any more difficult to install was, actually impossible to install.

Ahh, isn't this just like everything in life, all that work and skillful dexterity to get those first three nuts back in place was a veritable work of art, only to climax in the inevitable conclusion that the whole thing needed to be done differently, and even "by the book," as they say? Yep, the service manual, which I read prior to the procedure clearly outlined that the intake and exhaust manifolds are to be removed in order to remove and replace the turbocharger. I wanted to try it my way, first, after all I already had to pull the muffler system and the turbo charger just to get the damn starter in and out. If I could get those nuts on, I could avoid removing twenty more nuts and bolts. I was so close, it almost hurt, to think about it. The ego is an amazing thing, as a rusty yet seasoned mechanic, I know better than to get mad at machines. Machines are inanimate objects. Oh, if you were a fly on the wall you may have heard me gripe about why an engineer would do such a stupid thing to hide a starter under a turbo charger, but that was pretty much the extent of my *****. A good mechanic, and yes I consider myself pretty good, or at least I was, finds ways to do the impossible, and quickly.

Anyway, I got the turbo charger installed by removing the manifolds first. It wasn't so hard, just more nuts and bolts to remove and replace, and at one point I let one washer go in a really bad place; right into the top on the turbo charger. I fiddled around with different magnet arrangements, but the washer just went deeper. I sighed, and pulled the manifold again and turned it upside down and the washer slipped out. I taped the intake to the turbo charger shut and set out for the second time to install the manifold with the turbo charger bolted to it. I hadn't tightened the nuts and bolts all the way when the daylight in the driveway workshop began to fade. It was time to clean up for dinner, more biodiesel soap all the way up my arms to loosen the grease. Man, I have kicked myself a hundred times for not driving the truck to the car wash while it was working. Stupid stupid stupid. While I was rubbing cleaner grease on the dirty grease I began to think about a missing bolt on the exhaust manifold. I looked at the white Trooper which had only 99,000 miles on it and aside from having issues with the engine, was in very good shape; clean even; no grease. It was missing that same bolt right in the lower middle of the manifold. However on that engine it wasn't covered in soot. The engine I was working on was covered in soot, as well as grease. Hmm?

So the question for today is, have I learned anything in the past few days? Might is be best before I install all the nuts and bolts to pull the manifold one more time and find a bolt to fit in that spot, because sure as ***** if I don't it will leak again. That diesel engine was always noisier than the white Trooper, and that missing bolt was surely the cause of an exhaust leak. Indeed I got seriously lucky and found a brand new exhaust manifold gasket so I didn't need to wait for a new one to come in. The old one had blown out near the missing bolt. I'm thinking I better do it. After all this work to replace the starter I might as well fix everything I can. Only problem is that I will need to make a stud or bolt to fit that hole, because neither engine had one.
I do feel as though the light at the end of the tunnel is becoming brighter. Maybe I'm being naive, but what the heck, I feel good.

Sincerely,
Brian Rodgers

The turbocharger in place in the work truck.

Close up of turbocharger. It is that rusty looking thing in the middle. I guess they get pretty hot. The one I recovered from the white Trooper had heat shields. Maybe heat is what took out the starter.
Still a lot of stuff to hook up.

it is wise to place tape over any inlets, which might catch a falling nut or washer :-P

Here is the donor engine, missing the intake manifold and turbocharger. Down there at the right you can just see the starter. It was so difficult to remove I wasn't going to chance installing a used starter. ;-)

It is a new day, things are looking up. Our new topsoil in the backyard has a nice crop of sunflowers

On a happy note the Trooper is back and running tip top. The turbocharger works like a charm. Apparently several exhaust leaks at the manifold had adversely affected its ability to boost completely. Makes sense now that I think about it. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/baby.gif" alt="" />
It takes all the exhaust pressure to spin the fan in the turbocharger, yet much of the exhaust was escaping through the leaks, taking the path of least resistance, leaving no energy for boost power. I did find one issue which was present on both engines: A missing manifold stud in the (lower) middle of the exhaust manifold. I couldn't find a suitable replacement in my stash, so I left it out <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> this is probably going to come back and bite me at some point.
For now I am very happy to have some power back. The Trooper made it up (our) Nine Mile Hill at 50 miles an hour hauling all the tools and supplies I need to do wireless Internet installations plus 30 gallons of choice waste veggie oil scored from the local Chinese restaurant <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />
So heck yeah, I'm stoked.

Very nice writeup with the pics, especially the the view of the back yard. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Van <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Thanks Van
Yes we have gorgeous backyard, more often than not we get these guys visiting.

recently a couple of turkey hens paraded their chicks past my window.