Starter grinding sometimes

[Pablo M]

Sometimes when I start the car, 72 tii, the starter grinds. I assume its the teeth not meshing with the flywheel. But, is this a starter replacement situation or something else?

Starter does not sound slow and often 'catches' the second or third time without issue. 

And I've read the e34 starter is a good replacement and easy to find.

let me know what you think.

Edited November 4, 2022 by Pablo M

[tech71]

Might be worn down teeth on the flywheel ring gear. A little patch of teeth wear down, when ever(frequently) the bad patch lines up with your starter on shutdown, you get grinding

If that’s the case a new starter won’t help.

Edited November 4, 2022 by tech71

[Mike Self]

It might be the ring gear on the flywheel.  Due to engine compression, when you turn off the ignition on our 4 cylinder cars, the crankshaft will stop turning and come to rest in one of four spots (on a six cylinder, it's six spots, etc etc.)  So, when you go to start the car, the starter's pinion gear is gonna mesh with the flywheel's ring gear in the same four spots every time.  Thus that's where the wear will occur.   

 

However, it's more likely either a sticking Bendix drive on the starter, a weak starter solenoid, or dirty terminals either on the starter or the battery, impeding and lowering current flow.  Most starters do this occasionally, but if yours does it pretty consistently, it's probably time to pull the starter and test it, and examine the flywheel for excessive wear.  

 

mike