Well it seems that after the dealership diagnosed my car, they are saying that the Flywheel has bent teeths and maybe causing my car to have rough, extended starts. The flywheel is not engaging when it should. Can someone explain how this works? How the flywheel is involved with starting the car. I assume that the flywheel gets moving after being engaged by something? Since the teeth are bent, it can't function properly. Well the dealership says that maybe the cause of my rough starts, but who knows, that may not be the problem that solves it but just one problem. Is there a way I can inspect the flywheel and see for myself if the teeth are bent? I'm also getting camshaft sensor codes and I had them replaced but the car started even worse, so i swapped them out and put my stock ones in. The dealer told me that it maybe sending a wrong signal to me ECu since the flywheel is messed up. Welp more money, which I dont have, is going to be spent trying to solve this problem.

 

The starter engages the ring gear on the flywheel, so if some teeth are bent then the starter will bind momentarily.

Did you do anything that might have damaged the ring gear, like try to start the engine when it was already on?

 

No i dont believe i've done anything like that, but maybe the previous owner could have. I was told when i bought my car the clutch was replaced but I dont' think the flywheel was touched. Well time to start saving up for a flywheel and get it installed. Hopefully that will fix the harsh starting.

 

Could be also, the previous owner had a bad starter, which could have dragged at times before starting. Over time that could damage the teeth on the flywheel.

 

Describe the hard starting. ie.. grinding? engages but doesn't start??? odd noises?

It could be your crank angle sensor. But if are having grinding/odd noises then yes, the flywheel could have damaged "teeths".

 

I had a high whirling noise, like something spinning but there was no cranking, this was going on for a month than finally I got a new starter and that went away and now cranks fine but doesn't start up/fire right away. Could I possibly bent the "teeths" on the flywheel in that short of time? Can i physically see and check the flywheel?

 

Is it harmful to drive on this flywheel since some of the teeth have been bent? I was told by the tech that it is ok and should not affect anything.

 

I'm confused by what you're saying. If it cranks fine (if by fine you mean smoothly) then there is no problem with the starter or ring gear. If the problem is that the engine doesn't fire up right away then there is a different problem, like the camshaft position sensor you mentioned earlier or something else related to ignition or fuel.

 

Sorry to confuse you. The car currently cranks fine now, starter is new etc... Before i had the new starter put in, there was little to no cranking and just a whirring sound, like something spinning. But now the car cranks cranks cranks than fires on finally. Do you still believe the bent teeths on the flywheel could be the cause of the car not firing up right away? Or is that not related to the car not firing up instantly? I've swapped out the camshaft sensor and crankshaft sensors, didn't do anything, actually it made the car crank even longer to start. Thanks for all the help so far...

 

So w/bent teeths on the flywheel that should not have anything to do with the car not firing up right away? The car does crank fine.

 

bump.......

 

if u hear a thump then something spinning when u turn the key that means the starter is not engaging the fly wheel get a new fly wheel.