so after 5 years of hearing the starter howl after almost every start. I decided
today is the day. I re read the motervate thing on doing the fix.
and jumped in at 11am yesterday . by noon I was finished with everything back where it belonged. and the problem is now solved.

1 hour! I probably spent several hundred hours *****ing about the problem over
the last 5 years.

boy that 17mm bolt was a ***** !

but other then that a piece of cake.

I took only 1 picture during the fix. see that 3/8 extension?
I broke it .. got another with a pipe on the breaker bar and all was well.
the moral of the story ...quit putting crap off.

 

i remember doing that, yeah that 17mm bolt was a fun. but at least it's a easy job to but a starter in.

 

I remember doing that about 10x one day while we were trying to hunt down a starter/solenoid/ignition switch problem on a friend's VQ. I got it down under 10min to remove all the stock intake and get to it, swap, and reassemble.

 

I think that is the main reason I bought a max. I had to replace my mother inlaws starter on her 99 sel and just like you said, within an hour, I was back inside watching tv. PIECE OF CAKE!

 

Clean out that throttle body! Das duhrtee...

 

Breakers bars = easy job in half an hour or <

 

Just did the starter regrease and here are a few (hopefully useful) observations:

1) Don't start unless you have a 1/2 drive breaker bar for the 17mm bolt. I found it easy to remove with this but I've read of others having a tougher time with lesser hardware.

2) Take your time disconnecting or removing the various electrical connectors. They all have a little "trick" that will allow them to part easily once you figure out what it is. Take your time, look at each one carefully, and it will be easy to remove. You do not want to break them or you'll be rewiring too.

3) The three little gears have small roller bearings on their inside race and the rollers have to be clean. I sprayed them with TB cleaner, then WD-40, then soaked them in motor oil after spinning the race by hand. Seem to have cleaned up nicely. Also, they seem to have a top and a bottom, so orient them the same way on assembly as they were when you removed them.

4) Watch the little gasket behind the ring gear. It is fragile and I imagine hard to find a replacement.

5) Get the ring gear in flat-side-out. Rounded edge faces the flywheel side of housing.

7) Slide the whole gear assembly back so you can lube the nose of the drive gear shaft where it rides/fits into the end of the housing at the flywheel end.

8) The small, long bolts that hold the motor housing to the gear housing are *very* fragile. A smart rap with a brass hammer should break them loose for disassembly. Reassemble by hand. I heard someone say 35 ft/lb torque for these guys -- no way! Should be "tighten by hand" with at most a 3/8 drive. That should be plenty. Maybe that tourque reading was for the starter housing mount bolts -- not the motor housing to the gear housing....

Time: 2 hours for removal, refurb, locating lost tool that fell behind radiator , and reassembly. To put in perspective, I have 25 years wrenching so ymmv based on tools and experience.

Seems to have done the trick. Hopefully I'll get another 180k out of the starter now

 

nice and easy job there.