Howdy folks,

Winter is here and its time to prep our cars before we get stuck on the roadside. I noticed that each time I start my engine . . I hear like a *duck quack-like* sound that goes for like a sec . . then goes away. Last winter, I remember it making the noise . .but it disappeared when spring/summer came around. I dont know if this has any significance to the issue . . . just a side observation. My starter is fine and it seems like all belts are ok. Any idea what this could be? Thanks folks! Have a great weekend!

Starter is on the way out. At least...that's the sound mine made for a couple of months before it went... I believe one of the causes is the lack of good lubrication to an already weak design. There's a description of this on teh Motorvate site and he tried to re-grease it, but I believe it ended up having to be replaced anyway. Your results may vary.

In any case, after 120K miles & 9 years, for the OEM starter to finally die, that ain't bad considering it's the only repair that has ever left me stranded.

haha yah, i had the same issue and it was the starter, its the grease getting old and ****, get a new starter. i have gone through 2 starters in 4 years, my car tends to be hard on them for some reason, as well as window motors rarg

ya but he had it last winter and it when away in summer and came back in the winter...
Its not a belt squeal? I had problems with my belt squealing on start but was too lazy to fix. This Winter it happened more, I just tighten it up and no more sound at start up. The cold will cause metal to contract.

haha yes, it happened to me too. In the winter, when the grease gets old and junky, and well, isnt really grease anymore, the gears grind causing that god awful sound that those of us who have had this problem know all too well. In the summers, the grease thins out.

My 98 I30 did this and now my 00 I30T is doing it too... Mine also only does it during the cold times. I am the second owner of my car and it only has 76,000 miles on it so I really hope it's not an indication of the starter going out. I had to put starter in my 98 and the repair bill wasn't too pretty. Got the 00' with low miles in hopes of avoiding costly repairs.

Starter is a DIY replacement item from what I've been told since having to replace mine. There's a good write up on this site too. Look for it.

In general, if that's the only thing that has failed (along with some sensors) on mine in 160K miles, I'm still getting my dime's worth.

Basically its two bolts and an electrical connector.

Hopefully you guys can clarify this noise for me. I have a 98 Max and when I try to start it, there is a noise like what you hear if you turn the key to start a car when it is already running. Yes, I did that once when I was 16 . Sometimes it takes a few tries before it will actually start.
Anyway, the first post said it sounds like a duck quack... I am not sure if this is the same noise.

The grease in the starter has become old and sticky due to the underhood temps. When you let go of the key, the internal components of the starter are sticking/hanging-up momentarily, causing the noise. It's more prone to get when the temps are cold as the grease becomes more sticky in the cold.

This is a common problem with our cars, and it can be fixed without buying a new starter. About 5 years ago I had the same issue on my '98 Maxima...I was able to fix it by following the instructions in the attached post: http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....=noise+starter My '00 I-30t is also doing the same thing and I need to fix it.

I would recommend that if you do this, use a high quality synthetic grease. The synthetic grease will provide better lubrication and it will resist breakdown due to high underhood temps. Like I said above, I did mine about 5 years ago and have not had a problem since. Good luck.