Nissan Primera P11 Starter motor removal

Hi, thought I would share my experience. I got 1999 SR20DE SRi with manual gearbox and left hand drive. As mentioned before, no need to remove intake duct but removing it does not take long, it gets you more room and better view. Theres two intake support brackets, remove only that sits in timing chain side of engine or starter wont come out (and you can't loosen solenoid upper wire lead either).

- both starter mounting bolts are 14 mm and both are removed from intake duct side.
- no earth leads to starter
- wire looms are extremely tight fit. I got remanufactured starter by Remy and it has different angles on solenoid wires than original, have to Dremel some of that plastic guard off or wires could rip themself apart or worse, wire loom when engine vibrates.
- theres room for one hand only and absolutely no extra on wiring looms even if you loosen those tie straps in engine bay(because loom goes thru firewall just where starter motor sits).

Bitch of a job. I had mine replaced by my local breakers, on a cold Nov night with a plastic cup and a light bulb to work off. I learned some new swear words in Indian that evening. Not a job I'd like to do again

edits : -
Yes forgot to mention the intake manifold bar- yes remove it, is 2 bolts also fairly easy, think they are both 12mm.
First... from above , unscrew top starter bolt, is the same bolt that has the EARTH LEAD.
Then... from below with the car on ramps(that is how I did it) unscrew bottom starter mounting bolt/ fairly easy to see.
Then ... from below also- unbolt the intake manifold bar, can easily see the two mounting bolts from below.
Then ... unsrew Solenoid connections/ bolts, think these are 10mm.
REMOVE THE STARTER FROM BELOW. CAN MANOUVRE IT OUT

On refitting, clean/ sand slightly the solenoid connections, also the earth lead that the starter bolts from the top to the engine. Then maybe a little white/  grease for future proection on the contact points.
It's not so bad removing it but possibly certain variants of the Primera may have been worse / harder depending on model. Heard the SR20 was a pig to remove ? Anyway... mine is a 1.6 Traveller/ estate 1999.

BTW- maybe use combination of sockets and spanners- think I did most of mine with 1/2" sockets but space was not great. If necessary then use spanners if space seems too tight.


[/QUOTE]

Good news, and thanks for letting me know. I got a good deal on a new one, so was planning to fit it this weekend. What about the bar that holds the intake manifold? Is it necessary to remove before removing the starter motor? Planning to put the front of the car on ramps, to get access. Is that the best way to do it, as opposed to access from under the bonnet? And sorry last question. Is there sufficient access to remove the bolts with a socket, or better to use a spanner? Thanks again.

Did you post the video?