yes, another thread, but different question. I brought my car home today. When the car is cold, it starts fine. Half way home I stopped for gas and it wouldn't start. The starter turns, but something isn't meshing. Sounds like an airplane taking off. Some nice person came over and helped me. He played with the crank pulley, turning it a few times and we finally got it to crank up. Had to do it again when I stopped to eat, but I was able to do the same thing by myself. The car has been sitting for about 2 hours and cooled off. Started right up. Seems that when it is hot, the gears aren't meshing correctly. The guy said I needed to shim the starter. What do you guys think? Shim it or just replace it? Or do you guys think it could be some other problem? Going to the gym right now and going to drive it. It should start right up and the gym is close, so we will see if a short drive and a 30 minute cool off (short work out today woo hoo) will allow it to start. I am doing this just just help diagnose any problems.

 

If it's one of those giant old school starters, get rid of it and get a new mini-starter, even if it's not a high torque they still have more cranking power and are lighter, more compact and much more reliable. Those old starters have reliability issues, especially in the heat

 

Sounds like the starter is expanding inside as it heats up and won't turn over. Get a new starter in there, and figure out a way to sheild it from the heat of the block.

 

well, good theories, but my test start that made me think it could be a heat issue was false. I went out before I went to the gym (5 minutes after I started her up and shut her down within second) and I hit the key once, had a big jolt and for whatever reason quit turning the key, then tried to crank it again and I got the airplane sound.

I like the idea of the mini starter, so I am going to pull the starter and at least take it to autozone and get it tested. If it checks out, I might just shim it and put it back on and try and align it until I get a new starter.

any recomendations on mini starters?