Okay, so I replaced my starter and my flexplate on my '87 IROC 350 and the damn starters keep breaking. The first one lasted 4 days without a problem, then the f*ing nose cracked in half. I replaced it again, but then as SOON as I tried to start it the damn thing cracked the nose again. So I go and get another one (thank *** for the lifetime warranty) and I shim it, measure the spacing between the flywheel and starter teeth, and try to start it again. F*ING broke THAT one, too. So I go and get ANOTHER starter, and some new bolts, because I suspected my 15 year old ones of being bent. Replaced it, and the sh*t broke. The nose, in the same place, even though it engages and disengages properly when I bump the starter. I can now remove and install a new starter within 15 minutes, and it's not a skill I'm proud of.(By the way, take off the solenoid, it's so much easier) And no, I don't have the stock rear bracket for the starter, it was missing when I bought the car, and it's missing now. F*CK THIS STUPID HORSESH*T!!! F*CKING TIRED OF IT!!!

By the way, this is the answer I recieved from a Fiero Forum:

http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum6/HTML/010429.html

 

Honestly, it sounds like they are giving you the wrong starter for your car. Thats my .02

 

Sounds like you need the bracket just to eliminate that as a possibility.

While you're at the wrecking yard, take a careful look at a comparable installed flexplate. Maybe that's the problem somehow.

 

NAPA parts suck ***.

....that's about the most intelligent thing I can contribute to your problem.

 

I hade this same problem and I think that you need to shim your starter. It is cracking because the gears are to close to the teeth on the flexplate and when you start it the gears are pushing down on the nose and cracking it. That part is the weakest point so it will give before the gears or teeth on the flexplate bend.

My problem was not as bad as yours , I went through 3 starters in two years (lifetime) but that was the problem.

 

gotta go with shims here, you said you shimmed it by measuring???

add more than you have now and keep removing them one at a time, until it breaks. then add one. What the hell you got the warrenty!!!

Is you flexplate new? why did you change it? Check all of the teeth, maybe something is loged in between two of the teeth, once the engine gains any momentum it might hit whatever is protruduing and crack your starter.

are you using the correct shoulderd bolts?

 

BTW, my brother is the one who wrote and posted the topic above. I myself own a Fiero . Anyway. from what he says, it's the flywheel. He replaced his flywheel, and that's when the problems started. So, he put his old starter back in with the new flywheel and it did not break, but instead jammed at tooth #20 (he marked them all). After filing them down a bit, (the teeth on the flywheel), it only jammed at tooth #10. He kept experimenting with this until his old starter began smoking. Anyway, he suspects that it's a deformed or oblong flywheel. Also, the old starter, the one that withstands the abuse without cracking, is a non-NAPA remfd starter. So, yes, NAPA products may indeed be quite weak. His next move is re-replacing the flywheel (yes, he replaced the flexplate) with a different one, and seeing if that solves it. I can only hope it does for his sake, because that is a real b*tch of a job. Anyway, thanks 'yall, and I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

A couple of years ago I bought a starter that had a small rod that was to be placed across the flywheel teeth where it would
gauge the distance between the teeth and the shaft that the
starter drive slides on (armature). If the rod could not be inserted
between the flywheel teeth and the shaft, then the installer was directed to install shims as needed to fit the rod in.
Does anyone know the diameter of this rod, or what company packed it with their starters?

 

Do me a favor. I work at NAPA. Give me the production date, and engine size, so I can look up the parts. Also give me the part numbers of what your brother bought, so I can see if he got the right parts, or maybe cheap stuff. (Yes, NAPA does have SOME cheap stuff, to be price competive with Autozone, but we still have the good stuff too.)

 

Also if you think NAPA made the housings your crazy.. somebody just rebuilt old ones for them.. I'm actually surprised they warrantied the starter.. Broken housings are almost always a shim problem so it would be installers fault. Makes sense bout the new flywheel.. I too have run into mishapen flywheels.

 

im also suprised they took it back, kragen wouldnt take mine back that i cracked with my 70 camaro. maybe you need that rear brace on the starter maybe its vibrating or jumping around causing it to get hung on on the flexplate, then with the force it just cracks.

 

He'd have to look for the #s on the starter when he goes to the 'shop' (friend's house) again. But, it's an '87 Z28 Camaro with a 350. That's about all I can tell you. Also, lovely NAPA just gave me the WRONG alternator for my '88 Fiero. It's amazing- you tell them your car, your engine size, your year, etc... and yet they still give you an alternator that is much too small. What a screw. (BTW, pulling an alternator on a Fiero is SUCH A PAIN IN THE ****. You can barely SEE the damn thing... especially with an A/T). Since you work at NAPA, ya think they'd take a return on an alternator that has been installed? I am hoping if I clean it up, they will not notice... the damn thing didn't fit by a damn sight anyway, so I didn't USE it, just bolted it halfway in and watched it suck. Does NAPA have a policy against returning elec. parts? LMK please.

 

BTW, I work for a corporate store, so our policy may differ from an independant oweners rules.

If its our fault you got the wrong part, installed or not, we don't bitch if you want to exchange it over for the "correct" part.

Keep in mind, do you realize how much GM changes their stuff in the middle of a production year. Hell, even my own built in May of '86 TA has the belt set up of an '87 model year. Damn things are 1/2" different between 86 & 87.

Plus, especially with alternators, they loved to use 65, 85, 95, and 105 amp styles all the time. And it always seems that between each damn one, something was different. One bigger than another, clock'd at 3*, clock' at 12* etc... And don't even get me started on the crap Toyota does.

Also, I just sold a flexplate to a guy last week for his 86 Camaro, 305. Came back in yesterday, it was too small, and it was obvoius because he had the old part with him. Rechecking the computer, I looked up an 87 Camaro with the "police" option 350 motor, and that turned out to be the right one. Explain that.

 

no what sucks is my daily driver (quad 4 grand am) has a napa starter and the darn thing gives me problem after problem! the first time it just gave up after 2 weeks then the second 3 weeks later the third lasted for several months and decided to quit throwing out the drive gear. by then I had enough so I pulled the selonoid off and saw they never bent the pin over for the plunger so relived I bent it over the best I could with it still in the car. and now tonight it did it again! darn junk!!!!! I should kick the lug head who rebuilt the starter ?

 

Oops, they did not give me the wrong alternator. Someone installed an alternator from 87 or below in my car, and those are reputed to be crap. They must have switched the brackets, because the newer kind won't fit. Kind of a pain in the ****. So, I had to return it and get the crappy old kind. It works, though, but I am having serp belt issues, where if I tighten it to what I think is normal, it gets really hot and my alternator malfunctions. I don't quite know how loose to get it... But all this is for my Fiero, so nevermind .

About the starter, he just went and bought ANOTHER NAPA flexplate and hasn't installed it yet- I'll let you know. Thanks.