I need help bad mods are welcome... Car starts and run but the starter wont engage

[silver bullit]

I need help bad mods are welcome...

The car is a 90 awd talon manual.

Car starts and runs after a few seconds then car shuts off and the starter wont in gauge. The motor dont spin and the starter just comes out and slightly grinds on the flywheel.

I have gone through 2 starters that i know where good but still no luck. Both starters where for an awd car.

I have to take the starters off and put them back on just to get it to run the car for a few seconds then it shuts off and does the same dam thing again.


The car has a brand new fidanza flywheel, new stock clutch replacement, the starter plate is on there and in new condition.

When i say the car shuts off it stops almost like if you where to jam the flywheel it just stops. Then when you try to restart it it just grinds the flywheel.


I do know the tranny and the motor sit flush no gaps or anything stuck in them, the alignment tabs are in there.



I do know the flywheel there is a 4 teeth difference between the awd and front drive.

But if thats true the car would not start it would just spin. It actually fires up, spins the motor.


Are the awd and front drive starters the same?
What else is there to check?


I am at a loss i just honestly dont know what to do.

I am not taking it to a mechanic round here, the last time They stole my car.

This is wv no one works on a 4 banger here.


I know what i am doing, been doing dsm for 3 years now. Just i am lost on this problem.

The motor has 7k on the rebuild and timing is dead on accurate.


What about cam sensors? are the na and turbo ones interchangeable?

I think that is my problem but i need to know about the starter problem i have.


Is there any sort of gasket of shim that goes on there? I dont think so but the local redneck place here says it need it.

[EagleTSIawd]

check your flywheel. I had a fidanza before and the ring with the teeth came apart. I looked at it closely and i saw a very poor design in the flywheel. the ring is held only by 3 little screws and the ring is made what looked like steel or iron. As you know, aluminum expands differently then those two. So you are gonna have to pull out the tranny and look at your flywheel

mine made a weird noise once the engine was running, also, with the car off if i moved the crank back and forth a bit it made a noise kinda like as if it had broken plates in the transmission.

[silver bullit]

Ok now my car starts and the motor turns with out it grinding but its smoking out of the maf?

This thing is possessed.



Ill check the flywheel in the morn...

My crank is good and the trans to.

Originally Posted by EagleTSIawd

check your flywheel. I had a fidanza before and the ring with the teeth came apart. I looked at it closely and i saw a very poor design in the flywheel. the ring is held only by 3 little screws and the ring is made what looked like steel or iron. As you know, aluminum expands differently then those two. So you are gonna have to pull out the tranny and look at your flywheel

mine made a weird noise once the engine was running, also, with the car off if i moved the crank back and forth a bit it made a noise kinda like as if it had broken plates in the transmission.

[EagleTSIawd]

Originally Posted by silver bullit

Ok now my car starts and the motor turns with out it grinding but its smoking out of the maf?

smoke coming out the maf ... is your turbo new?

[silver bullit]

Originally Posted by EagleTSIawd

smoke coming out the maf ... is your turbo new?

I just got it rebuilt.

[EagleTSIawd]

as you know, oil spills on the exhaust manifold or turbo will give you that effect of smoke...

im hoping that was your case

so did the car stay on? or did it die on you again...

[silver bullit]

Originally Posted by EagleTSIawd

as you know, oil spills on the exhaust manifold or turbo will give you that effect of smoke...

im hoping that was your case

so did the car stay on? or did it die on you again...

Just kept rotating no fire but the starter worked?....


I am getting fuel i can smell it in the intake, but my timing is dead on, ive checked more than 10 times just alone on that.

Its getting fuel vapor out of the intake to but the timing is on...

Must have a leaking injector but i doubt it...

[Rob10_99]

Any car for that cheap is possessed!
The starter doesn't grind at all anymore? I would take off the inspection plate if its still there, and take a looksie at the gear all the way around.
Being 4 teeth off, I don't think the outside diameter of the gear will be small enough to completely miss the starter, I have never seen the difference in person.
If stacked on flat ground FWD vs AWD flywheels, it would have to be two times the tooth height for it to not touch at all.

Can you get back to us about where the grinding came from?

FWIW, my car is possessed too!

[silver bullit]

I am gonna check tomorrow.

Both the fidanza and my new awd flywheel was the same tooth and diameter.

I dunno the motor would not turn over and the starter would just grind and spin....

Watch tomorrow it will do both again.....

Originally Posted by Rob10_99

Any car for that cheap is possessed!
The starter doesn't grind at all anymore? I would take off the inspection plate if its still there, and take a looksie at the gear all the way around.
Being 4 teeth off, I don't think the outside diameter of the gear will be small enough to completely miss the starter, I have never seen the difference in person.
If stacked on flat ground FWD vs AWD flywheels, it would have to be two times the tooth height for it to not touch at all.

Can you get back to us about where the grinding came from?

FWIW, my car is possessed too!

[jking29]

When you pulled the starters out, how did the engagement gear look on them? Any marks, rounding, scoring or bueing? It sounds like you may have a fwd flywheel as it's slightly bigger on the ring than the awd.

[silver bullit]

Looks normal.


It is doing this at random i dunno what to do.