Need help with Mom's 97 Max GLE (starter related)
 

Hi all,

For the last few weeks the starter (original) has been turning the engine over slower and slower. Finally took out today when she was at the mall. I came by and knocked the starter with a wrench and got it started and she took it home.

Went by there and got the starter out, took it to autozone and they tested, it was sticking and not retracting and all.

Got a rebuilt nissan one from them (150), installed, buttoned it all back up , turned the key and I get..

a sound like it isn't engaging the flywheel, just a high pitched 'riiiiipppppp', and it is definitely not turning the flywheel. Teeth are good, never a problem like that before.

Now, I called AZ and they have another in stock, no problem.

I did double-check my work and it is bolted all the way in, and the bolt hole positions make it impossible to put in oriented the wrong way.

Does this sound like it isn't extending all the way and not engaging? My Dad usually took care of this kind of thing for her, can anyone provide any thoughts of whether it could be anything BESIDES a bad rebuilt starter?

thank you for reading and any help

Marc

I believe the starters from AZ have two different teeth configurations. One has something like 6 or 8 teeth and the other has like 10. Make sure the starter you purchase has the same amount of teeth on the bendix gear that your old starter has.

Hi

thanks for the reply. I thought to check that, the one that came out has 10 teeth and the replacement did as well. I think there is another variation with 8 teeth as well.

I'm thinking it just isn't extending, I looked at the flywheel when I had the starter out and all the teeth on it looked good.

I'm going to have them check it on their tester of course as well before I swap for a 2nd one..

thank you

oh oh.....well I recently regreased my starter since it was sticking. I put it back in and went to restart it, and I got a loud pitched riiippp too. I doubled checked my assembly and it turned out that I had flipped the cylindral part(magnets) the wrong way, which caused it to make the sound. Assembled it right, and it worked perfectly. Dunno if it helps.

ahh bah, damned autozone. Twas a bad rebuilt starter, swapped it with a little reluctance from the AZ guy bolted it in (fun to work on a car when it's 31f), and fired up.

"all our rebuilds are fully tested by the company before they ship".

Tell me then (in the last 8 years):

2 alternators with bad bearings
1 alternator with a bad diode pattern (?)
1 bad Mercury topaz starter
1 bad nissan maxima starter.

Bad out of the box.

ummmm-hmmmm I see, Quality is top priority, eh.

Oh well, in the end it's now working great and my Mom's stress level is down a few points. :)