Took my car to buy a new starter, long story short, flywheel is f#@$ed up. The ring with the gears that the starter engages, has MOVED to the left!! WTF. thats why my starter wasnt engaging the flywheel. Its not even touching.

 

pics?

I've been through a few starters, flywheel still looks like new

 

Never thought this pic would be good for anything but I guess this sums it up for him: Although I've never run into any problems either.

 

What do you mean, moved to the left? You mean it came off the flywheel?

 

Ring gear might have moved over. I think it's steel while the FW is aluminum. But of couse pics are needed to really see what happened. His starter could also have chewed up the ring gear's teeth also.

 

sounds to me like the ring gear has come off.. you should be able to call up Fidanza and have them send parts to replace/repair it

 

Yep, the ring gear is out of position. I dont have any pics though. All the gear teeth are good its just the ring is too far over to make a connection. I was told it might be fixable. He'll see tomorrow. I might have to put in a factory flywheel. Its only been on about 6 months.

 

No response yet from Fidanza or proclutch! Is there a warranty on the fidanzas??

 

There should be, but they're probably goign to blame it on the place who sold it to you. you can buy them without ring gears on them.. at least the distributors can, then they put the appropriate ring gear on them once they have them.. at least the last 15 I bought were like that. they may blame the thing slipping on them since it's just bolted into place..

anyway, pull the flywheel off and see if the bolts are missing or broken, take some pics, and call up Fidanza.

 

I would but I will get charged $350 labor for that. I'll take pics as it gets fixed but also I dont want my car just sitting in a shop while I look for a flywheel. Im going to call Fidanza back after 1:00 when the tech part is open. I'll probably put back on a factory flywheel.

 

that's why I do this stuff myself. doesn't cost me anything but a few hours to pull the tranny.


FYI, you're getting bent over HARD if you're paying that shop $350 to pull and replace a tranny. that's 4 hours work, MAX. I can do it in two, and I know your shop doesn't charge $175 an hour.

 

You want a Maryland weekend vacation package?? jk. I have no choice so....

 

Well, I HAVE flown to LA to work on a car, and driven to about 5 different states........

 

stay out of mine






hehehehehe

you can still take pictures, just pull the starter

 

Some notes:

1) If it's bad, you will have to remove it to: a) fix it b) repair it
2) If you want to claim a warranty, Fidanza will most likely have to see it physically to authorize a warranty replacement. They probably wont' send a new one w/o having the actual unit anyway.

 

Well, we took off the starter, looked at everything(lookin good), tested the starter on a 12v charger(works perfectly),put everything back and the car starts. I start the car about fitty-leven more times. Started everytime! Let it sit for an hour, started it back up again. This morning no start.Battery is good. I can hear the starter spinning and even moving in/out. What should I check next??

 

Maybe you have a weak solenoid that occasionally doesn't go in far enough for the starter to engage the ring gear.

Or maybe you have a bad tooth on the ring gear and just by luck your flywheel stopped at just the right position for the starter not to engage. If you have an automatic, turn the crank with a ratchet and socket on the crank pulley nut (if you have a 5-speed you know what to do) and try to start again.

 

sounds to me like the starter solenoid/bendix is going out, not the flywheel.

 

How did you come to this firm conclusion when it was the starter? Was this a guess by the mechanic?

 

so is it a starter or flywheel issue?
i want to get a findanza flywheel next year.
has this happened to anyone else here?

 

Thanks for the replies! Well, lets start with the solenoid. Cant be cause I replaced the starter twice (1 used & 1 brand new). Next, my mechanic informed me that the flywheel must have moved over because he said everything looked fine. My other favorite mechanic took off the starter and said everything looks fine. We turned the crank for 10 minutes and no broken teeth. Of course after I pop the clutch and start the car, it starts/runs fine all day long. If I leave it overnight, it will not start in the morning. I have replaced almost everything as far as tuneup is concerned. Im stuck driving an 93 Acura Legend right now.Its nice but it can touch the max. A.M. voltage is around 12.9.

 

make some videos of what the thing is doing. we can't tell you d!ck if you don't give us a better description of the problem. I highly doubt the flywheel is the issue.

 

battery?

voltage doesn't mean there's enough capacity to start it.

next time in the morning it doesn't start try jump starting it and see if it fires.

 

I had that same problem, It's probably your bendix, mine did it when it was really cold out.

 

Where/what is the bendix.

 

The Bendix drive, Bendix spring, Bendix gear are all the same thing, referring to the gear on the starter motor. Invented by the Bendix Corp. way back as a way to dis-engage the starter gear from the flywheel when you remove power from the starter motor (let up on the key).

btw - I don't understand how the flywheel or the gear on it could move and the flywheel be in balance.

 

Im going to see if giving it a jump will help if not I'll get a quality starter instead of this Pep girls joint. Thanks for the help.

 

Well, giving it a jump didnt do nothin. Going for the new starter.

 

i hope your starter has a lifetime warrenty

 

This one will.

 

I would think that if the ring gear was "pushed over" that it would be way out of balance and there would be a major vibration when ever it would be running. You said it runs fine after you get it started so think it is probably the starter bendix. I'm just saying it can't be the flywheel at all.

 

Just put on the new starter and same story. Although I bought a "brand new" starter from auto zone, the manufacturer sticker says " remanufactured in the US". Anyway same problem with the new joint. Ater the engine cools off, it wont start either. Just constant spinning of the starter. It has a lifetime warranty on it but I think I can safely say the starter is not the problem. Also this started as the season changed, when it got cold outside. It runs/starts fine all day long until after 3 hours or so. HELP!!