Soooooooo. Consequences of not doing things in the order you probably should because you're stopping and starting and not being methodical and filming everything like you know what you're doing.

I forgot to put the plug in the oil gallery behind the starter motor. To remove the starter motor to access the hole to fit the plug, I would have to remove the alternator cover (fitted in a video not posted as yet), and quite possibly the flywheel assembly and starter idler gear. That I had removed in the aforementioned, as yet unposted video because I'd put the washer on the idler gear on the wrong side of the gear. And which requires cleaning all the goop off blah, blah, blah. Activities I'd rather not be participating in, if they could be avoided.

Then I figured maybe I could get the end cap off the starter motor where the brushes are and access the hole enough that way to get the plug in. Herein is the story of that adventure.

Also, I found that this starter has 4 brushes, as opposed to the 2 brushes every other starter post '88 or so has had. I was quite excited about that (although the realisation of how hard it would be to refit the cap rapidly set in) and posted a photo on Facebook. To which Peter Green - one of the local dealer techs - responded with

"These are the starters made in Taiwan. They look superior to the ND 2 brush types, but in reality they're indescribable crap. It's a minor miracle if they pass the 30,000 km mark without turning to sparkling dust."

LOL. So much for that discovery then. Turns out the part number is now superseded back to the old two brush one, and was only listed for 2013 - 2015 M659/696/795/796. Clearly didn't take them long to become aware of said crap-ness.

But, all in all, a successful effort. And a new tool!

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