what's up guys, just moved from a thirdgen to a fourth gen and dont know much yet. I just got a 93 trans am auto last week, the car only has 73,000 miles on it very clean and runs great. When I start the car (and this has only happened twice since I got the car a week ago) I hear this loud grinding type sound, as soon as I hear it I let off the starter then the car will start right up when I try again. Has anyone else run into this problem? could the starter not be completely engaging the flexplate and grinding on it? any info would be great

 

Your starter's probably either not lined up correctly, or it could be loose. I ran into the same problem 2 years ago. I ended up tightening up the starter bolts ad that fixed the problem right away.

 

I would also check the starter it is the most likley to cause that.

 

If the starter bolts are tight and it stills grinds, the starter may need to be shimmed to slightly increase the gap between the starter and the ring gear. Any auto parts store will sell the shims.

 

Good advice above.

If all else fails... Another option is your starter solenoid isnt completely engauging the starter teeth into the flywheel. I had a brand new starter do that to me once, ONLY when cold (go figure).

1st = Check the bolts = free
2nd = Starter shim = few bucks
final = new starter

 

thanks for all the info, I will check the mounting bolts as soon as I can, hopefully it will warm up soon

 

You said it only happened twice. Are you saying it doesn't happen all the time? This indicates to me you have a bad tooth/teeth on the flywheel. It will only make noise when the bad teeth happen to stop at the starter bendix, the next time it is cranked.

You want to do a couple of things with regard to the starter. Of course you want to be sure the starter and it's teeth are in good shape. Now you need to check all 153 teeth on the flywheel. If they are both ok, check the clearance between the teeth of the flywheel and starter drive teeth with a paper clip. Line up a tooth from one gear (doesn't matter which) with the valley in between 2 teeth of the mating gear. A paper clip should just slide in between the 2.



Shim accordingly if it is off.

If all that is ok, then it's time for some electrical testing to see if either the starter is drawing too much or for some wiring reason, it's not getting enough current.