Jeff H

We have a 95 Maxima GXE that has been absolutely reliable at least until this afternoon. I went to start the engine and the starter motor turned but the Bendix did not seem to even try to engage the flywheel. As a guy who used work on my own cars, I was surprised to not even be able to find the starter motor. I have been looking on the front bottom of the engine where the engine bolts to the tranaxle housing. No sign of a starter.
I guess my first qustion is, Where's the darn starter motor?

Beyond that:
Have any of you had the starter just die like that (as in, Is this a common Maxima problem)?

Any suggestions for a quick way with limited tools available to engage the starter besides have it towed to a shop?

Thanks
Jeff

Daniel B. Martin

Look here: http://vbxmaxima.8m.com/starter.html

The starter motor is accessed from the top of the car. It's not difficult to remove, but the bolts which hold it in place may be very tight.

The symptom you report could be caused by a failure of the starter drive. That's the one-way clutch which allows the starter to turn the engine, but not vice versa. If that one-way clutch has broken and is now a no-way clutch, you would hear the starter motor running under no load.

There are other defects which could produce the same symtom, such as a section of flywheel ring gear which has lost it's teeth. If your Maxima has a 5-speed you can test for this by shifting into 5th, releasing the hand brake, and pushing the car forward only a few inches. This will turn the engine a few degrees. If the engine now cranks normally, the spotlight of suspicion falls on the ring gear. Let's hope it is not the ring gear, because that is an expensive repair.

Jeff H

Thanks for your prompt answer and the starter replacement reference. Removing and replacing the starter looks like a piece of cake (much easier than working from below as I had originally expected).

Our car is an automatic but I don't think that it is a flywheel problem. The starter does spin freely as if it is not attempting to engage the flywheel at all. I was curious about your mention of a "Starter Clutch". Starters used to have a device called a "Bendix" which was a small gear that engaged the flywheel by being pushed toward the flywheel by an electromagnet. It was not really a clutch. I know that starters have been redesigned since I was a kid to be lighter and use less electricity.

Do starters actually have clutches instead of a bendix?

Anyway, now, all I need is a breaker bar and a Torque wrench and the black Max should be back in action.
Thanks again!
Jeff

Daniel B. Martin

The component we usually call "the starter" consists of two elements:
1) An electric motor which provides the "muscle" to spin the engine, and
2) The solenoid.
The solenoid performs two functions:
2a) It is a high-current relay which connects the battery to the motor, and
2b) It is an actuator which physically moves the drive pinion into engagement with the flywheel ring gear.

The "Bendix" was invented by Vincent Hugo Bendix in 1911, and first used in the 1914 Chevrolet. For more information, see: http://www.nationalaviation.org/enshrinee/bendix.html

All starters have a one-way clutch. This is the small "can" attached to the starter pinion gear. You may have handled this part without being aware of it's purpose and importance. The factory shop manual diagram shows the one-way clutch and the pinion gear as one unit called "pinion assembly".

Consider the gear ratio of the starter motor to the engine. If the engine starts and revs up to 2,000 rpm, and the starter motor was not protected by the one-way clutch, the starter motor would be spinning at more than 20,000 rpm. It would be destroyed in seconds. The starter depends on the one-way clutch to survive in normal use.

Micah95GLE

To answer another question, it seems to be common for '95 Maximas to lose the starter at 80K-100K miles.