Every so often when I turn the key to start my car, I get a sound of like the fly wheel and the starter gear grinding. The starter also spins extreamly fast like it has no resistance. I'm sure the teeth of the flywheel or the starter gear have been ground from this. But do you think I have just some striped teeth on either the fly wheel or the gear on the starter. Or is the starter not engauging?


Oh it's a 83' LE.

 

Thats the solenoid going bad. It happened to me last winter, eventually you won't be able to start the car, the starter will just spin, cause the solenoid isn't pushing hte gear into the flywheel. Both the starter gear and flywheel teeth looked brand new on my car so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

Yea damn add that to the **** I need list lol.

 

It happened to me too. These starters are very similar to the old GM starters. They use a solenoid that pulls on a plastic lever that has a fork on the other end. The fork pushes the ring gear out to mesh with the flywheel. When I took my old starter apart, the fork had a lot of wear on it. I replaced that and put a working solenoid on it too. It works much better now.
By the way, I have a brand new NAPA starter that I bought before I took the old starter apart. If you're interested, PM or email me. Thanks.

 

It's an intermitant thing (even if the stater is good). Just let the starter wind down (stop) and then try agian.

 

yea, its pretty common

 

Yea it only does it every once and a while. But I just want it not to do it at all lol. So should I just get a new slinoid or the whole starter?

 

You first might try replacing your existing battery cables, and adding another ground strap to the starter. This would be a cheaper fix I think, and I remember reading in a FAQ somewhere that this is a common problem and this is the recommended fix...anyone remember where I read this from? Maybe is was Felix's website?

 

Ok thanks I'll check out felix's site. I'll work on it when I get the car in the garage for winter. And after I take the tranny out.... man I have alot of work ahead of me this winter....

 

I think a lot of us do. ugh

 

This is the link that I was referring to earlier:

Starter circuit diagostics and fixes

 

Before doing this, check your cables to see if they're working OK. You probably don't need to replace the ground strap, but rather, clean up the connection that it makes with the body.