| Ok, hang on here a sec. The "sounds pretty nasty" is only when the car is being started? Or after it is started you still hear noise? Anyhow, I just want to make clear a couple of things. You understand that: 1. The 2 gears do not touch and are not supposed to touch.
2. The 2 gears only come in contact during starting. Longer explanation... The two gears don't engage each other when they are just sitting there. Which is what it appears to me that you think you have measured, and so this is why I'm concerned about what may be going on... The starter gear MOVES out towards the flywheel/flexplate when you start the car. So I'm confused on how you measured them to be touching when the starter is not engaged. If this were actually the case, after you started your car, you'd destroy that starter motor in very short order. It's not meant to rotate at engine speed. The two gears don't touch. [Except during starting] Only when you actually use the starter, the starter moves its gear out to engage your flexplate and cranks it. When the car is started [and typically you release off the key] the starter gear retracts back in to its original position - disengaged from the flexplate. Not touching. If you try to start the car after it's running, you'll get a nasty noise, that's the gear from the starter motor extending back out to mesh with the flex plate and because the flex plate is rotating already, the teeth grind. We've probably all done it, forgot the car was already running, and tried to start the car again. So, for most this is a familiar noise. I'm still concerned your starter might not be working properly. (Gear not moving outwards to engage flex plate)
|
09:16:44 05/14/11
