It used to happen only infrequently but has been getting worse as time has gotten on. When I start my car up ('84 12A) I'll get this loud grinding sound. Like I said before, at first it would only do it say every 10th time I went to start the car but now it seems to be happening almost everytime as well as the car taking longer to start.

Is my starter having problems or could be something far more sinister?

 

hard to tell without actually listening to the sound, but I had a grinding sound which I thought was my starter and after purchasing and installing a new one it turned out to be a small box on the driver strut tower opposite of the ignition coils. It has a throttle cable going to the carb and a green wire going to it if I remember correctly. Dont recall the name as you can tell from my description, but if your car is a 12A that would be the first things I would check. If equipped, just disconnect the power going to it and see if that solves your grinding sound. Otherwise I would recommend removing starter and taking to a local parts store and have it tested and inspect the teeth of the bendix and flywheel for broken,chipped or missing teeth. Good Luck.

 

The solenoid is probly not engaging quick enough, and the bendix spins before fully engauged, causing the started to grind on the flywheel. Take out the starter and look at the bendix teeth as jgarza said, and also inspect the flywheel. The starter removal might take a max of 10 mins with regular hand tools. DISCONNECT THE BATTERY BEFORE DOING THIS.

 

I had the same problem(grinding sound). I disconnected the green wire and bingo no more grind. I had just replaced the starter and clutch so I was able to get a good look at the flywheel. No problem there. So my question is what is the green wire leading in to and is it a neccessary component? :smiley_12

 

Are you talking about the hot-start assist?

 

Yeah its definatley the hot start.