high pitched crunchy sound when starting
 

so I don't know much about cars and am willing to admit it, would ya help a newbie out.

this happened acouple of days ago and hasn't happened seince and I was wondering if it is a sign of a soon to be problem.

I went to start my 280zx and instead of turnig over it made a hard to describe sort of gindy or crunching sound. anyway I put the car in gear took off the emergency brake, let the car roll back an inch and then tried again and it started up just fine.

I asked a friend about it and he said it could be a bad spot on the flywheel or a problem with the starter. Can anyone tell me if either ne of these is probably it and how soon/ how much it will cst me to fix it.

thanks

might have part of one tooth broken off on the flywheel.

The fix would be to replace the flywheel. That requires removing the transmission which is a big job.

When you turn the engine off and let it stop on its own rotation, due to the air pressure and spring tension on the cam, the engine will tend to stop close to the same position every time. This means the initial teeth that the starter engages are the same.(or close to it) So when you come to a stop, leave the car in gear. Turn the engine off and at that moment let the clutch pedal up to stop the engine a little early. This puts the flywheel in a more random position.

I had one tooth competely gone on my flywheel for years and I did this.

Yes, it is either the flywheel or the gear on the starter. The starter itself is fairly easy to replace even for someone with limited automotive repair skills. the flywheel while much less likely to be the problem... is a lot more challenging.

If it's just a worn spot on the starter gear (which it probably is), it can go on like that for a long time before it becomes a real problem... Or it could fail completely tomorow. :D

If it continues to act up, consider replacing the starter.


Rod.

I have had this problem on my '82 N/A Auto...I just lived with it. I was pretty sure it was the starter since I was able to move it with my hand. :paranoid:

If it's a few teeth off the flywheel you could always move it manually and then try restarting the car.

If it's your starter and you have a 79, you may want to look into an s30 starter.

Because for some reason my flywheel didn't match up with the starter I bought for the s130 and had to go down to the s30 for it to work.

Could just be a coincidence and the idiot who had the car before me could have swapped out the flywheels.

is there a way I could test to see which might be the problem? the starter or the fly wheel?

Pull the starter... look at the teeth. :D Takes 2 bolts, 2 wires, and about 10 minutes.

sweet, thanks.

If you are pulling the starter might as well have it tested...usually free at the auto parts store.