Starter not engaging - only once... well, maybe more than once...

[scoot]

Hi -

I got temporarily stranded in the car last weekend.  I went for a nice drive and stopped, then when I tried to start the car again I got the sound of the solernoid engaging and the starter moter whirling around.  It didn't sound like it was grinding on anything, it just sounded like it wasn't making contact with a tooth on the flywheel.    Occasionally in the past when I have started the car I have gotten the impression that it wasn't quite hitting a tooth on the flywheel but it always engaged.

Sat in the car and pondered for a while.  Wiggled the car (I don't know why) and in a few minutes tried again and it worked fine.  It's worked fine for at least 10 starts since then.

So here are my questions:

1.  Do I have a bad tooth on my flywheel, and if so, is this as expensive and as much of a pain to fix as I think it is?

2.  Is it possible that I have something simpler like a bad tooth on the starter, or it could in some way be a starter problem rather than a flywheel problem?

3.  If this happens again, what do I need to do to turn the engine enough such that it moves the flywheel?  I have an automatic -- I know that it can be push started (or so says the owner's manual) but I'm wondering if rocking or moving it with it in one of the autobox gears actually translates into turning the moter a little if it is at extremely low speed (under 2 mph).

Any comments, suggestions will be appreciated.  Thanks Folks!
Scott

[al_lieffring]

scott

It sounds like you have a bad starter pinion. You may find that a Bosch rebuilt starter will be the most economical fix rather than disassembeling the starter motor and replacing the drive pinion.

When the starter is out of the car, make a chalk mark on the flywheen and use a 27mm (1-1/16") socket to turn the front crankshaft pulley nut. You may need a helper to watch the flywheel turn looking through the starter hole for missing teeth in the ring gear. The mark is to make sure that you have inspected all the teeth on the gear.

Unfortunatly the ring gear on an automatic has to be replaced by changing the entire flywheel.  This involves removing the transmission. A big ol' honkin expensive deal.

The transmission was designed for tow-starting. There is a rear pump that creates enough hydraulic pressure to engage the gears when towed to 25 mph (30 kmh) this pump is only used for this purpose and often doesnt work because it is so rarely used.