Starter grind

[tsiturbomm]

I have a 95 tsi awd and it had a starter engagement problem, so I popped my tranny off and replaced the flywheel with a brand new fidanza and a brand new starter. Put everything back together and it still grinds!! What could be the problem. The tranny is flush mounted, the starter is flush mounted, What could it be? The flywheel is for a AWD and so is the starter. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[silver bullit]

your starter is bad it is letting the gears touch the flywheel and is not retracting aka... the starter is bad. take the starter off and get a new one.

 

[tsiturbomm]

no it retracts fine, it doesnt grind when running just when starting.

 

[andymoraitis]

Pull the starter and remove the 3 long bolts that hold the cap on to expose the inside gears. Remove them and use brake cleaner and a tooth brush to get all of the grime off. Re-install, add a light coat of white lithium or wheel bearing grease and reinstall. The grind will go away....for a while at least.

 

[tsiturbomm]

The starter is brand new, just installed yesterday with new flywheel. It is the starter teeth grinding the flywheel teeth. But it is all where it should be in lining up but it still grinds and all bolts are tight.

 

[WOTDSM]

The starter is brand new, just installed yesterday with new flywheel. It is the starter teeth grinding the flywheel teeth. But it is all where it should be in lining up but it still grinds and all bolts are tight.

When my throw out bearing went bad it made a grinding noise when I started my car. I doubt thats it but it might be...

 

[JuiceGsTurbo024]

Are you torquing everything to spec?? correct?? sometimes it comes loose?? or one side is tighter then the other side! i had the same problem with my 2gen took it to mach. and he did all the dirty work hahah and it was fine...just make sure everything is spec!! dont over tight? i bet your getting mad hahah and over tighting the bolt dont worry i been there! i am having a problem with my starter as we speak! i think it might be the battary or maybe the relay but good luck dont starrt it to much bec you will eat the teeeth on your new flywheel and that hurts! atleast 300 bucks for a good one ! hahah so be carefull and take care of her and she will take care of you! good luck and happy new year! and hey at least you wont be driving on new years be safe!!

 

[tsiturbomm]

Well I do drive it every day but I dont use the starter, I always park it on a hill. To WOTDSM, just replaced my TOB like a month or less ago. Yeah I dont think my starter is going in far enough to touch the flywheel enough to get a good grip on it. Thanks for the replies and keep em coming. Happy new years to you and every one and drive safe!

 

[silver bullit]

Is it new or a remanufacture, did you test the starter before you installed it.

 

[tsiturbomm]

It is brand new not remanufatured and yes I tested it before install, worked fine and came all the way out!

 

[Trev_scott]

I had a similar problem, it has something to do with a plate the starter is connected to. Mine was cracked causing the starter to grind. I cant remember what the plate was called, perhaps one of the senior members can elaborate more on this.

 

[tsiturbomm]

yeah I was thinking about that plate. It seems my starter cant reach the flywheel so I was thinking about cutting that metal plate out near the starter. If I need a gap there later with a different starter I can use washers.

 

[tsiturbomm]

Ok, I know I got in trouble for (bimpin) this last time but it has been a few days and I really need to figure out this problem before I screw up another flywheel and starter! Anyone know if I cut the metal between the starter and tranny out if that would work?

 

[Fayt]

Mines having the same problem, the plate is causing my starter to not line up properly. I'm going to cut mine off, right now.

Called Buschur and they said watch the flywheel from under the car when it cranks. If the flywheel spins a little, but stops, the starter needs to be put farther in. Mine does that so I'm cutting the plate out.

 

[tsiturbomm]

Ok thanks man, ill check that out first thing tomorrow morning

 

[CaymanEvoIII]

Guys I'm having the exact same problem. I bought a Evo III that was doing that from the start. I installed ane fidanza clutch, flywheel and brand new starter and still smae problem. I sent it to the garage now to be checked out...wish i read this I would have held off for a bit. My problem doesn't seem to be that the starter isn't going in far enough but rather it had too much clearance from flywheel...I dunno I'll looking forward to how everything go with y'all my last resort will be to change the starter drive to the compatible 10 teeth one. It's a little bigger thus less clearance...maybe, i'm waiting to hear from mechanic now.

 

[tsiturbomm]

What do you mean starter drive? The end gear? If so where and how do you get one and does it work with the regualr flywheel?

 

[CaymanEvoIII]

http://www.pfi-manufacturing.com/driveCatalog.pdf
check this catalog on page 16. p595 is what is inyour starter now. it can cahnged with p596 which is ten teeth. the onlyprobably is that i didn't find any difference with the size of the flywheel so theoreticaly you should have to do this but if t my mechanic doesn't find anything wrong I am going to take things in my hand and change the starter drive to the ten tooth pinion gear. you can prob check any car part store for it. Did you cut the plate...i wanna know what's up

 

[Fayt]

Cut my plate off, it starts up now! It does grind a little bit/make ugly noises, but it starts now (better then before). It took a while, because I had to remove the intake manifold to get to the plate and cut it correctly.

 

[tsiturbomm]

Well I guess ill cut my plate off and see what happens, hopefully that will fix the problem completly. Mine grinds but will start in 1-2 cranks of the key.

 

[Fayt]

Mine was doing that too, and it got worse. Eventually it'll sound like the starter misses the flywheel every once in a while, then miss it more, then just completely #### up.

So, mine doesn't necessarily grind, but the startup noise is kinda high-pitched. It doesn't waver at all or grind, but more like a high kriiing-kring-kring-kring-kring then turns over. I think it's normal, I've seen other DSM's in videos that sound that high-pitched.

 

[tsiturbomm]

So you cut your plate off and everything worked fine?

 

[JStrateger]

I'm having a similar issue as this; I figured I would post in here for search convenience instead of making a new topic.

Every time I start my car, it grinds at the end of the start-up; as if the starting isn't disengaging in time. Sometimes the car won't even start but I hear the starter clicking (large thunk, metal on metal), like the teeth on the starter aren't lining up with the flywheel. I think the starter circuit has a bad ground and isn't getting the proper voltage to engage and disengage properly.

I just put a new starter in the vehicle so I know for a fact it's not the starter. I'm going to check all grounds on the vehicle tomorrow and post my findings, I know for a fact I have a bad ground somewhere because my lights dim when I press my brake pedal or turn on my blinkers. If I can't figure out the problem I'm pulling the trans.

 

[JStrateger]

I managed to figure this out, turns out I wasn't getting a good connection to my battery, I replaced the terminals and it fixed it right up. No more grinding, starts first turn every time. The engine runs and idles much better now too. The terminals cost about five dollars total.