My car has been making this grinding noise when I start it sometimes, but not all the time. I had the starter motor replaced, and that seemed to help for awhile but the noise is still there, and it sounds horrible.
I took the car back to the mechanic who installed the starter motor and they now say I need a new flywheel or something and it will cost me $500. What in the world in the flywheel and why does it cost so much. Does this story sound reasonable to you?
Dorothy, Fresno CA
Hey there Dorothy,
That grinding noise you have been hearing was the starter motor gear grinding and damaging the teeth on the flywheel. The flywheel is between the engine and the transmission so either the engine or the transmission has to come out of the car to gain access to the flywheel.
The flywheel itself is pretty inexpensive, but the labor involved is where the expense is. I would expect auto repair labor rates in California to be very high, so this quote of $500 is probably not a bad deal depending on what kind of vehicle this is.
There are probably only a few metal teeth that are worn or missing on your flywheel that is why you only hear the noise sometimes, the starter has to engage the bad part of the flywheel and most of the time the starter engages the good teeth, so no noise.
The starter motor was probably bad, and you continued to start the ca with this metal to metal noise so the bad starter damaged the flywheel. Had you stopped and replaced the starter motor as soon as you heard the noise the flywheel would have been spared.
Here is a picture of a flywheel, my finger is pointing to some worn teeth around the edge of the flywheel. The starter motor grabs these teeth and spins the engine around to start it.
Blessings,
Austin Davis