The topic title says it all.. It's the first time the car has done this, and it scared the hell out of me.. It's wet out today, and I was in my girlfriends driveway when it did it.. It was very loud, and sounded like it came from the starter.. Any chance my starter is going? It didn't make the sound again when I got home.. Help!

 

might be dry bushings in the starter,starting around
1988 some of the starters have needle roller bearings
instead of bushings.

 

could be the teeth on either the starter or the flywheel/flex plate are worn out, allowing the gears to not mesh correctly and slip. This happened on my buddys bronco, replaced the starter, and all was well.

 

Did the starter manage to crank the engine when it made the noise?

 

I'm not sure, It scared the hell out of me from how loud it was.. But I turned it off, and tried again and it was fine..

 

Yep, exact same thing that happened to my buddys bronco. He would turn the key and if the teeth didn't grab well enough he would get that noise, if they did grab it would start.

It will only get worse until you cant start the car.

I say replace the starter.

 

Yeah, get under and check the starter/flexplate. The nose of the starter could be cracked. Or you could possibly be missing teeth on the flexplate ring gear.