Starter Grinding Ocassionally

[The Camry Man]

STARTER GRINDS ONLY SOMETIMES WHEN COLD OR HOT.

Ok I have searched up on this for an hour now and come to the conclusion this needs some attention.

The grinding sound is made when the Bendix (Bendicks ?) does not mesh with the Flexplate or flywell properly thus resulting in a Screeching loud grind sound. After a few try's it wll catch but still damages the Sarter gear and flywheek more and more.

QUESTION ... Could the solenoid have anything to do with this? Like not enough voltage to put proper pressure on the bendix shaft. and.. what if we tried a "work around" for other members like an added washer behind the starter gear to move it closer to the flywheel ?????

This is what I did;

I wondered if I pulled the starter and saw if it was the sarter gear or flexplate (flywheel) which is the cause. Found that most times it is the Starter gear that chews up the tip of the gear making it worse every time .

While the starter was out I took a mirror and inspected the teeth on the flywheel ....and the were not near as bad as the starter teeth. But I used my handy swivel tip dremell and squared them up. I then swapped out the gear on the starter with a nice one off a starter that had other problems (or replace starter..your choice.. but don't use the same gear anymore) and then advanced the timing (clockwise w distributor) hoping that the engine will stop in a different spot. after putting the starter back on I have not had any issues for a week so far.

I will update this post if I have another issue.

I am guessing I lucked out and replaced the strter before the flywheel teeth got too bad and needed replacement.



OK

[fredk]

mines doing the same thing, as soon as it gets bad ill junk it

[66conv6]

I've counted over 50 grinding starters over the years mostly our Camrys and some Corollas. I've heard Toyota redesigned the starter gear on rebuilt Toyota factory starters. Go to Autozone or Pep Boys and you get the rebuilt starter without the redesigned gear.

Our two Camry's (87 and 88) also grind every now and then like every other day. I take the parking brake off and rock the car while in park and that usually solves the problem. Sometimes I take the car out of park and roll the car back maybe six inches and throw it in park. This works too. I was assuming I'd need a new ring gear but I've never checked. I see this as a Toyota defect that's never been fixed. My 66 Mustang and various VW Beetles never had this problem.

[The Camry Man]

Never heard of a newer bendix gear. Still wondering if the ressure behnd the gear has something to do with it.

If ya think it through? There is nothing wrong with the length of the shaft or the mesh of the gear right? I bet that if someone built a more powerful solenoid that supplied enough pressure the bendix woul have no choice but to FULLY engage. yes it could do more damage to flywheel but maybe last the life of the car.

For instance look at the starter gear after you pull it out to look at it? it is not worn all the way down but just at the very tip maybe 1/4 inch. That tells me the starter gear is stopping there and spinning thus resulting in a worn gear and random grinding. Yes it might be a mesh issue keeping the gear from fully engaging the flywheel but if there was sufficient power behind the gear it would always mesh.

I am going to research the newer gear posted above and also tryth washer behn the bendix to see if that makes a difference.


AS FOR MY ORIGINAL POST!........

No more issues with mine yet