Two types of starter motors are used by Subaru. They are, the direct drive motor and the gear reduction motor.
The gear reduction starter may drive the over-running clutch shaft through its own pinion or an idler gear and pinion, depending on the required reduction. The purpose of this system is to increase the torque produced by the starter for its weight. The armature drive/overrunning clutch (through a single pinion) design is used on 1800cc manual transaxle cars, and the pinion and idler gear system is used on 1800cc cars with automatic transaxle.
| Fig. 2: Gear reduction starter
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| Fig. 3: Direct drive starter
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The direct drive starter, on the 1200cc and 1600cc engine, uses a permanent magnetic field system instead of field coils inside the yoke. A spring steel retaining ring is used to retain the magnet, and keep it from springing out when an unexpectedly strong shock is applied to the yoke circumference. When the starter is engaged, current flows through the pull-in and holding coils. This causes the plunger to be pulled in, applying pressure to the shifter lever, which pushes the pinion out. Current flows through the armature and starts it to turn the pinion at a moderate speed, meshing it with the ring gear. When the main switch contacts are closed, full current flows through the armature, fully meshing the pinion with the ring gear, starting the vehicle.
