OK, here's a weird one for y'all, especially those that do this stuff for a living.  Coworker of mine has an early 2000's Impala, V-6.  3.8L??  A few months ago he replaced the starter with a reman because the one in there stopped engaging correctly.  It worked great until a week or two ago and then the same thing started happening.  He is saying that if the teeth on the bendix gear don't line up perfectly with the flex plate teeth, they won't mesh and he'll just get a bang when the bendix gear tooth rams the flex plate tooth.  If he turns the engine over just a touch by hand the teeth will then mesh and starter works fine.  A few of us in the office have been puzzling over this for a week or so without much success and it seemed to be getting worse.  We thought maybe there wasn't enough juice to operate the bendix correctly, or possibly the cut on the bendix gear wasn't quite right to allow meshing.  But he was still able to drive it if he was willing to turn the engine with the fan belt about every other time he needed to start it.  But then today he was late for work because it caught on fire at the starter.  Obviously some sort of electrical problem, but anyone have any more specific ideas?  He insists he's wired it correctly....

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Chances are the toofers on the flywheel are messed up, and that's why he has to turn the engine a little before the starter will engage.
As far as the smoke coming out of the starter, that could be a wire problem, or a starter problem. Reman electrical stuff is pretty much a crap shoot...it may work fine for years, it may not work when ya put it on....ya never really know. Does he know if it was actually wires that flamed up, or the starter itself? It's possible that some wires just got a little too close, and shorted...it happens. It's also possible that some of the wiring insulation may have been iffy to begin with, and in the process of installing the starter, wires were moved enough to cause them to eventually touch. Really hard to say, but it ain't a co-inky-dink that it happened...it happened due to the starter install.

I just spent 2 hours installing a reman alternator on Mama's Northstar Cadderack....I think the starter would have been easier to replace...and it is UNDER the intake manifold! I just hope the dang thing lasts.


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Joel Adams
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"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"

he needs shims between starter and engine block. As far as the fire he needs marshmallows for roasting and waiting on the insurance check to arrive once the car fully burns. This is by far the best route to take as it solves all his problems and feeds a sweet tooth  

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1980 , ZZ430 , 3.92 rear , 700R4 2400 stall NEW EZ EFI 

Joel, he says it was actually on fire, and I think it was centered around the wiring to the starter, not the starter itself.  And I think he was afraid of the answer about the flywheel.  Lots more work to get to that!  

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