My car eats starters like I like ramen
 

Ive done a search and no one seems to have had this problem. Theres a local auto shop that I hate but they keep replacing my starters for free. The car will work for 2 months, and then the car wont start again. Im thinking the fly wheel is messed up and slowly eats away at the starter or something along those lines. The shop says the fly wheel is fine but somehow I dont believe them. Anyone have insight into this?

How many has it killed? maybe cheap starters...or possibly its getting too much power and burning itself out (not likely, but fits the situation)

What happens when it dies? that will help us narrow it down


Also what kinda bimmer is that

i was in a rush last night and didnt put water in the bowl full of ramen before i put it in the microwave. lets just say after 24 hours i still smell something burning and the smoke is finally gone.

Lol! I make the package stuff not the instant bowls. I hear the styrofoam melts a little and you get carcinogens or something.

Anyway. It sounds like the starter gear works for a second then gets spit out. So youll hear it turn the fly wheel for a second, then youll just hear it spin. Sometimes itll just hit th flywheel and not even mesh, sounds like someone dropping a marble on my flywheel. I managed to get it to start after just doing it a whole bunch because I really really dont want to pay for towing.

Its killed its 5th or 6th starter at this point. I think even ****ty starters would work longer than this.

And in my sig, its a 1989 BMW 325i that I have hand turbo charged. It finally runs decently enough after 7 months (Ive never had a turbo car and did it all by hand). Now its just tuning... which is a ***** and a half. I wanted to squeeze every drop of Hp so I opted for a Megasquirt instead of just slapping on an FMU.

i use the packaged stuff too.

A hand trubo ... ???? WowWooWeeWa! LOL j/k mate! Congrats on the DIY job!

The starters are more than likely fine, it's the flywheel that is eating the starter gear. When the starter gear wears to a point of "not catching" on the flywheel, it still trys and what you hear is the abendex throughing the gear at the flywheel, but it doesn't engage - thus just spins against the flywheel.

E-bay or classifieds (http://forums.maxima.org/forumdispla...aysprune=&f=61) a new flywheel ... only B1tch of it is ... gotta drop the trany to put it on. The stickyz will go thru how to drop the trans ... if you are still the DIY kinda dude, you can save a LOT of money by taking care of this on your own. :D

Plus ... drive the Beemr till you get this done ... :sprint: it's SCd!

I would drive my bmw around but the tune isnt good enough for daily use. Or at least im too scared to find out if it is. I know FWD engine trannies arent easy to take out so depending on how much the shop quotes me, I might eat it. I cant afford to have my car down for an extended period of time to do it myself. My other bimmer has a blown HG. The max is supposed to be my reliable car... *sigh*

check the teeth on the starter of the old defective/bad starter....go back to the shop and see if they still have the old one even. see if the teeth on the starter are bad...and if you cant see the flywheel because the starter is not off.....go underneath the car and pull the plate exposing the ring gear (both auto and manual and these)...its held on by 2 10mm bolts...you can check the flywheel from there with a light.

*grumble grumble* The shop said that last time it was in, they checked the flywheel and it was fine. The tech wants to take more time to figure stuff out, which is nice of him (finally a nice person at this shop). Hopefully the answer wont cost me too much.