loveVII

Can anyone help me troubleshoot this noise? My car makes one of 3 sounds when I turn the key... Normal start-up, this sound, and another slightly different screeching sound. Car has a new-ish starter (Reman from Advanced), new-ish battery (from Walmart) - by newish I mean under a year old. I checked battery ground to chassis as a starting point and even upgraded the wiring 2 days ago to 0 gauge. I've been having this issue intermittently for about 6 months. Car always eventually starts. Just really awkward for me when it makes that loud screech and I'm in a parking lot.

Not sure if it's related, but I'm going to replace the camshaft position sensor in bank 2 today because my car died coming home and had trouble re-starting. Could this issue be related?

Any help troubleshooting would be appreciated.

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

Can't view your vid- but I'd guess it's an under-tensioned accessory belt. When was it last replaced? It's unlikely to be related to the CPS, but how do you know it's the culprit?

loveVII

Hadn't realized I had uploaded the video as private - oops.

I've owned the car for two years (~12000 miles) and haven't replaced any belts. When I had my transmission replaced a few months ago, the mechanic recommended replacing the serpentine belt, so I bought one, but haven't looked at how to change it. If you can view the video now, is that the official recommendation?

Trouble code was P0345 when car stalled today. I have a bluetooth OBD2 reader.

loveVII

Fixed the PO345 troublecode by replacing the camshaft pos sensor, but I still have no clue what this noise is. Any ideas?

travlee

iTrader: (8)

to me it sounds like the starter is not engaging properly

loveVII

Kinda what I thought, too. I had a new starter put on less than a year and that's about the time this noise started. Starter has a limited lifetime warranty on it so I got it replaced about five months ago, but still making the same noise.

I drive an automatic. Is there another part I can replace if I've tried two different starters and both have same issue?

zakmartin

What you really need to do is have someone listen under the hood and under the car when you start it to pinpoint where the noise is coming from (like others have said, it could be a bad belt or pulley.) That being said...

Caveat: I haven't played with the starter on the Z yet. I have replaced hundreds of starters in my lifetime, however, and know that many models require shims at the mount to get the drive gear to engage the gear ring on the flywheel properly.

Maybe someone else knows if our cars need shims (particularly with aftermarket starters).

You might want to have a look at the flywheel gear ring if you decide to pull your starter again. Damaged teeth could indicate a bad starter alignment.

zakmartin

I know this hurts, but you could go back to an OEM part. Sometimes cars (particularly, newer models) are just picky. Before you change anything out though, get the starter bench tested to see if it's up to snuff.

hulkout

Sounds like the bendix isn't engaging. In basic terms, a starter gear pushes out and then meshes with the flywheel to spin the engine and start it. If the bendix isn't working the gear will just sit in the housing and spin. You need to make use of the parts warranty. When you have the starter out, you should check the flywheel and make sure you aren't missing any teeth or have damaged ones as this could possibly cause this issue although it's unlikely.

'WhiteRoadster

Also im not sure how close to oem that starter is but there is a chance it might have to be shimmed in properly. Sometimes new starters differ slightyl and is what usually causes them to either cause problems with the flywheel or not engage properly. Might want to look into that
Edit: after seeing the video i do see it engaged properly the first two times and failed the third. Id try to use oem or another auto parts store if u keep having issues with the starters there. They might have defective components. If it were a shimming problem it would of been noticed in the first try.

loveVII

I went ahead and ordered an OEM starter to test with. It'll be here next week (Tuesday-ish)

This is what's on the car: http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/c...ter#fragment-2

The specs say it doesn't include shims, so I would assume it doesn't require them either (but you know what they say about assuming)... It's got a "limited lifetime warranty" - when I had the first Advanced Auto starter I bought replaced a few months back the bench test said it was in good working order... Which makes sense because it does work about 75% of the time when it's on the car. Wish there was a way to recoup some of that $122 I spent on crappy Advanced starters.

I'll have a look at the flywheel next week when I'm pulling the starter and see if it looks chewed up. Hoping it's not the issue because I don't have the tools to drop the tranny - that's kinda what got me into this mess in the first place. (Mechanic broke my working OEM starter while pulling my transmission to replace it after my radiator burst and mixed coolant in my transmission fluid line - fun times)

hulkout

why didn't he pay for the starter since his typical mechanic carelessness broke it? If you have any issues with that flywheel then you should consider having words with him. Words like lawyer and lawsuit come to mind.

travlee

iTrader: (8)

people are too sue happy now days, gees

hulkout

Mechanics are too useless. Take some damn responsibility.

travlee

iTrader: (8)

ever think of giving a person a chance to right a wrong ?

hulkout

Yep. I've found that those words can help persuade a mechanic who refuses to fix the things he broke. The sad truth is most mechanics break things on purpose to get you to come back. Certainly start politely, but when that doesn't work slowly work up to the threats. That's as far as I've gotten, because obviously I'm not going to actually file a suit over a 70 dollar starter. There's been times that hasnt worked with mechanics or others and I have to give up and walk away. But who's going to look out for you besides yourself? Sometimes you have to defend yourself against a ripoff artist mechanic, sometimes against an Internet bully. Such is life. It's a cutthroat world nowadays.

I get really sick of seeing people get screwed over by mechanics. It's an epidemic anymore. Just look at the threads in the maintenance section. There's so many instances of a mechanic being either crooked or ignorant. If a person doesn't know how to, or doesn't have the time to, or can't because they are a 95 year old woman or something do their own repairs and maintenance they are forced to trust someone with what could be their only mode of transportation. If they are crooked like each and every one in my town, they can do unneeded or unsolicited repairs and hold your car hostage if you can't pay them the thousands of dollars they are asking and they call it up selling. Lawyers got nothin on mechanics and it really needs to be stopped.

Vigman

Hind sight comments..
1) The MECHANIC should have PAID for a replacement starter PERIOD...
2) Laying on the starter and GRINDING the flywheel ( not so good ) ... good thing the bendix nose gear is softer then the torque converter ring gear.. but it's still METAL ON METAL.. so the second you hear that noise BACK OFF THE KEY....there is a crank sensor in the bell housing... if it's COVERED in metal... not so good either.
3) In the FSM I do not see any mention of shimming... I would also LIGHTLY grease the the pinion shaft.. and inspect the ring gear ( ALL 360 degrees ) .. make sure the mating surfaces are CLEAN where the started nose bolts in.
4) There is a small bracket that supports some wires... make sure that is not wedged in between the starter and the bell housing ( FSM- SC-19 )

loveVII

Yeah the mechanic probably should have paid for the starter, but he swapped out my transmission for $400 which was something I couldn't do on my own (nor did I want to...) and he saved me $2000 vs the stealership. I thought he should have replaced my starter himself also, but I felt a little bad because he under-quoted me for the work he had to put in to my car (he had never worked on a Z before and thought it'd be a lot easier than it actually was, but he finished the job and didn't charge me any extra) There are some crappy mechanics out there and I really don't think that guy was one of them.

I'm gonna go swap out my starter with the OEM one I got this week and hope it fixes the issue.

Also, I know that the noise isn't "good" for the car, but I tried to prolong it for the sake of the video and making sure you guys could hear what the noise was and help me troubleshoot. Trust me, when I'm in a crowded parking lot and my car makes that noise, I don't hold the key and let my car screech haha.