The starter has given up on my 95 SE Auto. It was running erratically this week and I had lubed the bendix gear to quiet the noise several years ago, so time for replacement when it died completely this morning. The solenoid fires, but no spin.

The rebuild replacement has a 10-tooth bendix gear that is significantly wider than the 8-tooth one on the unit it is replacing. After install, the solenoid fires and the starter spins freely, but the bendix does not engage the flywheel. I won't be going anywhere with that. The starter works as expected on the bench and throws the bendix fully forward.

I checked the battery and it is good... Every post I can find here recommends the 10 or 11 tooth bendix to replace the 8 tooth one, but unless I just have a bad rebuild with the wrong 10-tooth bendix, I can't see how it will work without replacing either the bendix or the flywheel.

Anybody else have this happen?

 

Have you checked the tooth length on the gear between your stock unit and the new one?

Where did you get the new starter from?

 

I'm not sure which direction you are asking on length. Diameter of the bendix (tip to tip) is 28mm on the 8-tooth, and 31mm on the 10-tooth.

Here are photos:

10-tooth is first... you can see the additional 1.5mm per side clearance on the 8-tooth.


Obtained from local Advance Auto. They have usually been good for parts I needed when I didn't want to pay for OEM.

 

Not the width, but the actual length of the teeth. The OEM unit appears to be longer than your new one.

When fully extended, does the new starter match up to the old one?

 

Yes, they match when fully extended. Only the top 1/4" or so of the bendix gear engages the flywheel. You can see the shiny wear on the 8-tooth one. Only that portion matters. The fact that the 10-tooth gear has a solid base visible at the bottom should not affect operation. I'll have to check, but I believe clearance from top of the bendix to the housing along the shaft is the same.

What are you suggesting? I had them order another so I can compare, but if it is the same, I plan to swap the old bendix onto the rebuilt starter.

 

I'm not talking about anything beyond where the gear engages with the flexplate. When fully extended, do they both have the same amount of engagement area?

 

I understand now... yes, they would have the same engagement if did engage.

I believe what is happening is the top of the teeth on the 10-tooth bendix are hitting the side of the flywheel below the bottom of the valley between the flywheel teeth. There is no vibration or grinding. It just hits the flywheel while spinning and doesn't engage.

 

I had to replace my starter a few months ago. Got one under warranty from Advance
and noticed the difference between old and new (like in your pics) , but found a flyer
in the box saying it would work regardless of the difference . Installed it in my '96
and it's worked fine since.

 

Here's the latest/last on my problem here...

I got a second rebuild from Advance on Saturday morning and it has a different 10-tooth bendix (it looks more like my 8-tooth one), but it is still 31mm diameter. Put it in... same problem. Pulled the unit back out, tried loosening the bolts a little to jiggle it around, still the same problem. Swapped the 8-tooth bendix onto the rebuild. Reinstall. It doesn't work either, but now it is REALLY grinding harshly like it isn't lined up properly.

After installing/removing the unit several times, testing the relay, verifying grounds, hot wiring the solenoid, and whatever else I could think of short of boring a hole in the housing to watch what was happening inside, I noticed the bad starter's housing casting has a shiny machined aluminum surface where it fits the opening in the bell housing. Could there be a variation in size of this casting with the early 95's like mine? Maybe, maybe not. Prying the unit upward while tightening the bolts did not help. Okay, probably not.

It was more or less desperation at this point, but I swapped the cast aluminum housing from the bad starter to the rebuild. Essentially, what I have now is replaced only the solenoid and the motor on the original starter. Everything else is still original. Put it in and what do you know? Works like a charm on the first try.

Any idea as to why this worked when all else failed? It seems like there are different starter-to-flywheel clearances on my car which is one of the earliest 4th gen's produced in mid 1994. I would like to have tried the 10-tooth bendix gear, but have already spent too much time on this project to pull the starter AGAIN and the 8-tooth one works fine.

Maybe the experience will help someone else... I hope I won't need to do this job again.

 

Both rebuilds had the same paperwork... not that it helped in my situation. I wish I knew why it turned out the way it did.

 

get one from napa. I had problems with 2 starters from pepboys. It would start, but it would really grind the gears and seem like it wouldn't always engage fully. Got one from napa, and solved that problem. Try that route, and if the one from napa works, just don't ask questions.

 

My starter is having the same problem. Does anyone have any information on this? From autozones repair site, they mentioned a difference between in transmission on the 95-97 and 98-99s. I think the difference were trq specs? Anywho, can anyone disprove this theory?

I've tried EVERYTHING he's tried and no success.

 

Was it an 8 tooth starter or 10? mine is from advanced and they just have 10 toothed.