k well every time i start my car it grinds really bad and some times takes me a couple times to get her on (worst sound in the world). anyway i checked the flex plate and some of the teeth is busted and i dont have the money to change it untill 2 more weeks because i just dumped 800$ into this car. my shop wants 250$ not includeing the plate>is that a good price? oh and does anyone know if it can do any damage to my car being the why it is and me continuing to drive drive it for another 2 weeks? oh and how long do u think i have till it wont start at all?

jason

 

You won't do any damage to the car really. The only possible damage that you might do is to the starter drive gear. Meaning if it hits the flexplate wrong it could knock out a couple of teeth on the starter gear. This is a fairly easy fix if you have a spare one laying around.

As for how long will it last well it could last forever like this, the only problem being that nasty sound. However if the engine stops on a spot where there is no gears left for the starter to contact, well you may have to spin the motor by hand just so it can grab a gear.

And $250 sounds reasonable to me considering they will be taking the tranny out to change the flexplate. HTH

 

I just replaced mine, and luckely in time because you should of heard the noise that was coming out of this thing, my suggestion is: don't drive it because not only can you screw up the starter but also the tranny and maybe something else, wait until you get it fixed before you drive...don't take a chance unless you are a millionaire and you don't care! Also there are 2 kinds of flex-plates, go for the thicker 1 it will be more stronger and less headaches...the 1 that you want is gold in color not black! Good Luck!!!

 

hey your in scarborough so am i where did u get yours done? and how much did it run u?

 

I got mine done at Straight-Line-Racing (416) 757-9804 Talk to Andy and ask him about the stronger, thicker Flex-Plate, I think that the price would be around $300.00 instalation included, Price for plate is $148.00...It is also a T.C.I. way better than the original, i would go for that if i were you!

Nikko! (The Sinister)

 

I drove my 83 Monte for 3 years with this problem. It has nothing to do with the transmission, or can it harm the transmission. The Benix that pops out when the starter engages is alot harder than the flexplate, and worse thing that can happen is you punch teeth off the flexplate, or break the starter casing. This is usually caused by your starter not being shimmed properly(needed on 305's). It's nothing big. It'll be fine till you have money to fix it.
And if you land on a spot where theres no teeth, put the car in D and rocked it a bit to turn the flexplate, then strat it. Works 100% of the time.

 

thanks, i was trippin 2 thinking i will be stuck takeing the bus to work for another 2 weeks. man u made my day lol. The Sinister> thanks for the #. i did not quite get what u saying about the price is it 300 includeing the plate and instalation?

 

I agree with Cruz'n... you can only rip up the flexplate more and destroy the teeth and/or rip the nose off the starter- you will not affect the engine or transmission otherwise.

That being said- if you hit a "bald spot" on the flexplate when you try to start- you may have to rotate the engine by hand in order to get teeth in front of the starter gear.

$250.00 is appropriate for R&R the transmission (partially) and replace the flexplate. Just make sure they're going to disconnect the cooling lines for this- some guys in a hurry try to "flex" the lines when moving the transmission back and rip 'em open. You can probably get/they can get for you a junkyard flexplate for less then $50.00- just make sure the starter is re-shimmed as required after this or you may rip more teeth off later.


Or- of course- if you own a MIG and a grinder-you could just weld teeth back on the existing flexplate and re-shim the starter yourself.