Starter whining and other issues

[Nofear20]

Back in early July my starter died. Had a new one put in and all was working fine. About a 1 1/2 months to 2 months later it started giving me issues. When I would go to turn it over, it would just make a whining noise, but wouldn't actually turn over. I was told the arm wasn't kicking over or something like that. Had it replaced under warranty. Two weeks later the new starter is doing it, but worse.

With the first starter it seemed to be heat related, like it would mainly do it after long freeway drives. If I'd let it sit for about 10 to 20 minutes and try again it would start.
With this new starter it started doing it out of no where. A 10 minute drive across town would make it start doing it. I could let it sit all night, go to start it again, and it would still do it. But, if I let it sit and keep trying long enough it would eventually start. Which then brought another issue that only happened a couple times.
One time I got it started, and there was a BAD noise from the engine bay. My idle was fluctuating up and down, AND for some reason my stereo was making a horrible beeping noise at me! Like I said this only happened a couple times.

What is going on here? The mechanic doesn't know much about DSM's but he said they checked all the wiring to the starter and it looks good. They replaced the starter again and he said its working again but for how long who knows.

I'm running a 6 bolt with a 2g head if it matters. He put a 2g starter in there, not sure if that matters either... Please help.

Why was this moved to the routine maintenance section where there is no activity at all? I would say in my case this isn't routine maintenance anyways.......

 

[Afroclipse]

Here I come to save the day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok,

1.now when you say whine do you mean spins but makes no contact?

2. Did you check to make sure you had the correct flywheel? because AWD flywheels are different from FWD so the starter might not be making contact due to flywheel being smaller.

3. Grab a multimeter and check your wires, grounds especially.

4. Did you use the correct starter plate as in 2g starter plate, I'm not sure if they are the same but it might cause an issue.

 

[Nofear20]

Here I come to save the day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok,

1.now when you say whine do you mean spins but makes no contact?

2. Did you check to make sure you had the correct flywheel? because AWD flywheels are different from FWD so the starter might not be making contact due to flywheel being smaller.

3. Grab a multimeter and check your wires, grounds especially.

4. Did you use the correct starter plate as in 2g starter plate, I'm not sure if they are the same but it might cause an issue.

Thanks for the reply.

1.) I believe thats what its doing yes. I can hear spinning but the motor doesn't actually turn over.

2.) I'm guessing its a FWD flywheel, since I've never had any issue until I had the new starter put in.

3.) The mechanic checked the wiring and he said it all looked good.

4.) No idea on this. But like I said I have had no troubles until the new starter was put in.

 

[->PrOjEcTGS<-]

First of all, what kind of starter did the mechanic replace yours with? Was it a remanufactured one from an autoparts store? Or was it a brand new one from a mitsu dealership? The remanufactured ones are hit and miss as to the quality of the repair work performed. Sometimes you'll get one that lasts forever and sometimes you'll get one that was dead when you bought it. On my 1963 Chevy Truck i've got a Duralast alternator and starter on it from Autozone. I bought the original one 10 years ago, but have replaced them both about 5 times due to them going dead. Generally on that truck since the starter sits under the exhaust manifold the solenoid gets a lot of heat and therefore it will not engage the starter on hot starts thus prematurely failing. It's pretty much a design flaw on GM's part for doing this but that's why I bought a Duralast, so I can just replace it when it goes bad.

As for our starters, I'd generally trust a 15year old used starter from a junkyard over one from a autoparts store. I just haven't had any problems with any of the ones on my DSMs.

As mentioned previously, the 1g 6bolt engine uses a slightly different starter plate than the 2g does. Therefore since you have a 6 bolt in your 2g it is quite possible that the person who installed the engine did not use the correct shim plate (2g one).

Also... Make sure all of your transmission to engine block bolts are tight. If they are loose it will change the positioning of the starter due to the fact that there will more than likely be a gap between the engine and transmission and will probably be sagging a little bit. putting the starter gear closer to the flywheel which will make it whine or possibly not engage at all.

Yes you can use either a 1g starter or a 2g starter in the car. They are, for the most part, the same. I think there may be a difference with some of the 1g auto starters being different. I'll see if I can find the thread I read that in.

Good luck I hope you or your mechanic can figure out the problem!

 

[Afroclipse]

Thats a good point, the starter for an automatic doesn't have the reach to hit the flywheel, that could be your problem.

The solenoid when activated pushes the starter forward so it engages with the teeth. If the starer just spins it means that either the teeth aren't being pushed forward and the starter just spins, or the everything is working but the starter doesn't engage the flywheel because flywheel is out of reach. Anyway go and check to see if you have a starter for a standard or automatic.

 

[Nofear20]

Thanks for the help guys. Im going to keep all this in mind. I'm not sure what starter he used I can't remember. I know he said it had a lifetime warranty. I'm sure it isn't an OEM one....