Grinding sound after starter replacement

[LilSpann601]

short story go out to crank my car the starter is dead...go to autozone buy premium replacement installed starter on 305..car cranked and run good for 30 mins..I shut the car off go to crank it again all I here is grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr grrrrrrrrrr...the reman starter didnot come with shims.. the engine is a chevy 305 out of a 81 caprice...the car is a monte carlo 81... heres a video so yall can hear it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YucYEy6uYjs

 

[Bowiemontecarlo86]

Weird that it didn't come with shims I know when I bought my 305 starter it came with one. I never used it cause the one I took off ain't use one. I never had any problems with starting the car after either. Maybe a bolt got loose on the starter and it ain't sitting flush no more?

 

[malibu80]

Your replacement starter should have come with shims and instructions. I'd go back to the store and ask them to take it out from another box. Definitely sounds like you need to shim the starter.

 

[LilSpann601]

well heres something else crazy took the starter back to autozone they gave me other...i put it on..go to fire up the car i get the same noise so I went down and look and the starter this one cracked right down the casing..I noticed the long starter bolt will not go all the way in once tight..what size and length is that bolt?? will autozone replace starter if it cracks?? neither duralast starter had shims included..i know the motor has some mileage but I was cranking the motor everyday and I can see the mechanical fan spin when i try to crank the car but it spins slowly because the starter hasn't the engine binded some kind of way

 

[454muscle]

Probably not, but can't hurt to try, take it back to customer service and hopefully you can return it to some young chick/clerk at the returns desk who doesn't know about cars? Just a thought.

It sucks, because you should have gotten shims. I've bought starters a few times, some came with shims, and some did not. And in the case where they didn't, I went and bought the shims seperately.

It cracked because of not using shims -- that's what happens. I know, cuz I've done it in my early years. A new starter and shims fixed the problem.

 

[Dugan]

I work at autojunk take it back. They come with lifetime warrantys. Give a manager a hard time and say its chewed up your flywheel because the starter didn't come with shims. Don't back Down. Autojew managers have to give you what ever you want to keep you happy. Have them give you shims free. Done it for people before. Just dont let them tell you no. If they won't budge tell them to give you your money back you'll take it somewhere else.

 

[LilSpann601]

i got the starter back off im going to see if they will replace it...the starter dont come with shims but they do sale a pack with 3 different sizes in it

 

[pontiacgp]

If the old starter didn't have shims you don't need shims, the shims are used to compensate for a block issue. I have never seen a shim on a starter on a 305. If it was a problem with alignment you would have had that problem the first time you tried to start the car with the new starter. Sounds like the starter wasn't installed properly or the starter is junk. It's not a bad idea to get the store to test the new rebuilt starter before leaving the store..

 

[LilSpann601]

when i bought the 305 the starter was not hooked up and it was missing the starter bolts. So i went to autozone and bought ones that would just hold the starter up. THe weird thing is that the first started worked without any noises but as soon as it went out and i bought the autozone duralast i started getting the grinding noise after 3 times of cranking and letting the car run. Last night after putting the 2nd starter on and I seen the housing was cracked i grabbed the starter and I could move it just a hair so im thinking i may need starter bolts...Can someone tell me whats the length of the long bolt????????? How do I know if I need shims???

 

[pontiacgp]

You need to use the proper starter bolts that have the knurling on them. They keep the starter properly aligned and if you used the wrong bolts that is most likely the problem.