Hello everyone, recently while trying to diagnose what turned out to be a VATS issue on my 1989 Firebird., I jumped the solenoid with a screwdriver a few times to engange the starter. I got the car running now, but almost everytime I start it the starter will make a fairly loud growling sound. The grinding sound ussualy happens right after the engine starts running, but it has happened while turning over aswell. Would the starter have came lose from all the tapping and messing around, or did the starter get damaged while trying to get a good connection on the solenoid? Is it okay to start up my car in the mean time while I try to figure this out? Because I need my car for work.

Thanks in advance! Any input will be greatly appreciated

 

jumping the solenoid won't hurt anything: it's just a different way of putting 12 volts to the trigger wire.

 

Okay then im pretty confused. The starter never once made this sound before I had to jump it, and while trying to hold the screwdriver there properly it made the same noise off and on if the screwdriver moved at all

 

You need to take out the starter and look at the gears and the overrunning clutch mechanism (called a "Bendix" by a lot of folks) .

My suspicion is that if you weren't 100% connected or disconnected with the screwdriver across the terminals , and were repeatedly making and breaking , bouncing the connection , the slamming in and out of the solenoid (and Bendix) has damaged either the gear or the one way clutch that engages the starter's armature to the gear . That's if your lucky . If your unlucky , you chipped some teeth off of the flex plate's ring gear , but let's hope it's the starter only . And yes , as you could imagine , every time you start it and it grinds , more and more damage to whatever is grinding is of course happening , and it will eventually give out entirely . If it's only the starter , best to not keep on starting it , lest it decide to take out the ring gear with it .....

 

If parts are damaged, would it make the growling sound everytime? It doesnt happen everytime but for the majority.

 

1. One gear has over 150 teeth (about the size of a medium pizza), the other maybe ten (Size of a 50 cent piece?).
2. Every time you hear that crunch you're probably damaging the larger gear in different random areas. Would be like taking little bites around the edges of the pizza.
3. If you damage it enough, it may randomly crunch even after you repair/replace the starter because the smaller gear won't be able to make proper contact with the larger gear. It might not be a bad idea to check the larger gear to see how bad it is.
4. Replacing the larger gear is more expensive and more involved.