Got that annoying grind on cold starts, or every time you start your car? As alot do, I use to. The car starts, so the starter can't be bad, right? Yep. I took mine to be tested and sure enough, it tested bad. Brought it home and decided to clean it. My car starts better than ever now. Here are the steps involved in cleaning it.
1.) Remove the battery for easy access to the bolts. Go ahead and remove the air intake. Now under the intake manifold, you will see the starter. It's the only bulky item down there bolted to tranny. Go ahead and fit a socket to the bolts and remove them. Unclip the black electrical connecter coming off the harness. Pull the starter out by whatever means it takes.
2.) take the wire harness off of the starter. Take the clip off that runs from the solenoid. On the bottom of the starter are two hex nuts, small ones. Take them off. They are very long. Now pull the black middle section from the top. Careful though, there is a BB looking piece that sits on the top of the gear from the bottom section, and three gears. DO NOT, and I repeat DO NOT disassemble the bottom section, you will NEVER get it back together, and its not necessary.
3.) Those 3 small gears you see, remove them. Take your brake cleaner, and hose EVERYTHING off. I took a toothbrush and cleaned everything by hand, with brake cleaner. Hose anything you can see dirt or grime on.
4.) Break out some lube/grease and grease everything up nicely. But don't overgrease it! That lithium spray grease would work nice. I used wheel bearing grease. Reassemble everything in the reverse order you took it apart.
5.) Reinstall that baby, and dont forget to put all the wires back correctly, and hook the ground up to the tranny bolt.
6.) Put all the accessories back, start the car, and enjoy the scott-free grinding noise you were so accustome to!
1.) Remove the battery for easy access to the bolts. Go ahead and remove the air intake. Now under the intake manifold, you will see the starter. It's the only bulky item down there bolted to tranny. Go ahead and fit a socket to the bolts and remove them. Unclip the black electrical connecter coming off the harness. Pull the starter out by whatever means it takes.
2.) take the wire harness off of the starter. Take the clip off that runs from the solenoid. On the bottom of the starter are two hex nuts, small ones. Take them off. They are very long. Now pull the black middle section from the top. Careful though, there is a BB looking piece that sits on the top of the gear from the bottom section, and three gears. DO NOT, and I repeat DO NOT disassemble the bottom section, you will NEVER get it back together, and its not necessary.
3.) Those 3 small gears you see, remove them. Take your brake cleaner, and hose EVERYTHING off. I took a toothbrush and cleaned everything by hand, with brake cleaner. Hose anything you can see dirt or grime on.
4.) Break out some lube/grease and grease everything up nicely. But don't overgrease it! That lithium spray grease would work nice. I used wheel bearing grease. Reassemble everything in the reverse order you took it apart.
5.) Reinstall that baby, and dont forget to put all the wires back correctly, and hook the ground up to the tranny bolt.
6.) Put all the accessories back, start the car, and enjoy the scott-free grinding noise you were so accustome to!
