Recently had my alternator replaced, as my battery was not holding a charge. Things were going great until a couple of days ago. Made a stop and it wouldn't start again. Tried jumping it. Nope.

When I was turning over the ignition, the starter was making a god-awful grinding noise. The engine itself never turned.

Ended up hooking a charger up to the battery, and it showed 75% charge.

Would a dying battery cause this? I just replaced the friggin' thing last year.

 

Things I would check would be all of the electrical connections, since they were probably disconnected during the alternator install.

Next I would need to know if it's the starter definitely making that noise, as you say the engine won't turn. If it's the starter making that noise then it's possible there -isn't juice in the battery to fully engage the teeth and it's grinding.

Or it's just ironic that the starter is failing. I would check with a fully charged battery, tight connections and someone outside of the car to identify where the noise is coming from. I suppose you could have aged the starter with all of those less than fully charged battery starts. They don't like that too much.

 

The grind is definitely coming from the starter. I have checked and re-checked all the connections and they are sound. Still sounds like I am going to have to replace the battery again...

 

Sounds like the starter gear broke. You're going to have to pull it out to check it. Make sure the ring gear on the flexplate/flywheel isnt chewed up too

 

Could it be the starter solenoid, instead of the starter?

 

You wouldnt get anything if it was the solenoid. If the starter is spinning but not the engine then it's the starter gear or the ring gear. Or the starter bolts came loose.

BTW, if the battery wasn't holding a charge, changing the alternator isn't going to help.

 

Actually, I had the alternator replaced because it had gone to crap. Nothing to do with the battery. Guess I need to check the starter...again...

 

Have you pulled it out before?

 

If the starter checks out okay...You might consider trying to slowly rotate the engine by hand using a ratchet on the crank bolt.

If it rotates smooth try again and see if the starter gives you more trouble.

But before you rotate the engine over check the teeth on the flexplate when you have the starter out.