1G Starter not engaging

[talondsm24]

so all the sudden the other day i went to turn my car over and it went at first but then it sounds like the starter is spinning but not hitting the teeth on the flywheel. all the teeth on the starter are fine and it feels like the flywheel teeth are fine too. should i try a new starter?

 

[rlacasse1]

Yeah likely the gear is starting to stick. If you want to get it to work again you can smack it a few times with a hammer to see if that will make the gear break loose and engage. But it won't be a permanent fix. It will just get it going.

 

[bobster22388]

^+1 Sounds like your starter will need to be replaced. This might be the first time, but it will just become a pain having to carry a hammer and smack the thing every time you want to start your car. If you end up needing one for a 1G send me a PM, I might have one laying around.

 

[talondsm24]

i had the starter out but still connected to the cables and it seems like its moving out just fine but the shaft has quite a bit of in and out play

 

[rlacasse1]

Well if you need one I have one laying around.

When you hooked it to the battery did the gear slide out like it should. All the way???

 

[talondsm24]

ya it slid out all the way but it was kinda shacky

 

[rlacasse1]

I'm thinking you need to try a new starter then.

 

[talondsm24]

ya im gonna do that, found a local guy with one for $15 but he wont answer the phone!

wasnt the starter, same exact thing happaining with a different one

 

[talondsm24]

so the starter is spinning the flywheel but thats about it, the engine isnt turning over seems like the flywheel isnt even spinning the crank. any thoughts?

 

[Rob10_99]

I call shenanigans, take off the cover on the bottom of the trans and take a look. How's the starter engaging the flywheel if its not bolted to the crank? It would certainly be making some terrible noises clanking around.
And don't even think about the ring gear spinning on the flywheel, no way.

 

[haswesley]

So, your accessory belts (Power steering, alternator, etc.) are not spinning when you turn the key to turn the car over? Take the starter out and look in the hole and try spinning the flywheel by hand. If it moves easily, the flywheel ring separated from the flywheel.

 

[talondsm24]

had the starter out because i thought i had a bad starter not thinking to take the cover off and watch the flywheel move so now with the new starter in i had a buddy crank the car while i watched the flywheel spin. no accessory belts or anything are moving

 

[Pirrofab]

Are you sure the starter that was installed was for your car? not a fwd in an awd? It seems almost to far out to be considered but make sure the crank pulley is in fact moving. Pull off the timing cover and see for sure. Maybe the keyway broke off the pulley for the timing belt? I would hate to say the crankshaft broke.

 

[talondsm24]

my old starter that was in the car from the factory did the same exact thing as this one did so im sure this is an awd starter. the crank pully isnt moving, the only thing thats moving is the flywheel, and no abnormal metal on metal noises or anything

 

[dsm-onster]

Broken crank.

 

[talondsm24]

ive never heard of a crank breaking before but i guess with a dsm anything can and will break

 

[Indian]

ive never heard of a crank breaking before but i guess with a dsm anything can and will break

Just because you have a Dsm does not mean anything and everything will break.

 

[Shadow21]

Does it have a seperate ring gear around the flywheel? If so that could be the culprit. It could have broken loose. Thats why i like the idea of a solid flywheel.

 

[DSM1G90]

Automatics doesn't have a flywheel since the torque converter acts as the flywheel. The starter tooth ring is attached to the torque converter.

He never mentions if he's a manual or an automatic.

Yes, and cranks can get snapped in half if a rod has enough down pressure when pushing on the crank.

Does the OP have the regular harmonic balancer on the motor, or did he shove on one of those reduce speed solid ones? Doing this can snap a crank due to exessive harmonics that are not filtered out by the balancer.

 

[talondsm24]

funny thing is this flywheel has 200 miles on it if that so how the heck could the ring gears already seperate? and i do have a manual, quick trip to my profile and mods list would indicate this, but dont have a modified harmonic balancer or anything like that

 

[BLINKY619]

wow never heard of a flywheel spinning when you turn the key yet the motor wont spin.... this is new to me... never heard of it... cause the flywheel is held by 7 or 6 bolts witch is weird in my opinion

 

[talondsm24]

yep 6 bolts holdin that sucker on there tightened it on to tourque with loctite.

 

[BLINKY619]

ok my only answer in this occasion would be that its a broken crank....

 

[RvlutionMtrsprt]

I'm curious how this unfolded. Did you go outside to fire it up one day and poof, nothing? Were you out launching/running it hard the previous night? If you can visibly verify that both the ring gear and flywheel are spinning when the starter engages, I can only think of 2 things: first a broken crank, or maybe you somehow managed to sheer off all your flywheel bolts. Best of luck with this one.

 

[dsm-onster]

If the ring gear came off or if the FW bolts broke somehow, for both, I'd speculate that either would bounce around rather violently when you engage the starter. So if you dont hear a FW or ring gear flopping around in the bellhousing, you really have one other possibility.