Hi. I replaced my starter with a re-manufactured unit I purchased at a local Nissan dealer one year ago. Since that time the occasional start would result in a grinding sound, as if the starter and flywheel gears/teeth were not meshing correctly. When I hear the grinding, I would just back off on the ignition for a couple of seconds, then retry. The retry is always good without any grinding. I'm thinking that the gearing on the starter is not optimal and is causing me this issue. I'm worried that over time the flywheel could be 'chewed' up.

Anyone experience this before, if so, was there a remedy other then to try find an OEM starter? The OEM starter I was quoted over $450 by Nissan, hence the re-manufactured unit for around $200.

 

Use an upodated 11-tooth starter. I got one from a local auto parts store. I decided not to go with Autozone, as I've had bad experiences with them before.

 

I got mine from Autozone maybe 2 months ago. The 1st 3-4 starts grinded, but after that it was all good. $132 + tax + your old starter. Not bad.

 

buy the right one from salvage yard. car-part.com
get one for $40. with maybe 50-80k miles on it. i had to do the same thing

 

I replaced my starter last summer with an Autozone special. No problems, no grinding. BUT... i did prep work before bolting it in. First - make sure the mounting surfaces on the starter and engine block are clean and don't have any burrs on them. Second - open up the starter and add some axle grease to the planetary gear set and oil the roller bearings in the planet gears.

The lube drying out in the planetary gear set is what causes a lot of starter failures to begin with. While Nissan doesn't say anything about this, maybe you should pull the starter and grease the gearset every 50 to 60K miles.

 

I had pulled out my starter motor, cleaned it and re-greased it. After putting it back, it did not turn the engine. I could hear it spinning. Before pulling it out, the starter will just click and not spin at all. Can someone help solve problem, very much appreciated. I have a Maxima A32. My email: jonelesuma@yahoo.com