grinding noise

[Anonymous]

After having a leak in the transmission pan I replaced the pan and gasket and now when starting up I hear an awful grinding sound coming from the flywheel. I've inspected the flywheel and can't see where anything could be grinding and must be coming from behind the flywheel or in the bell housing. I had the front of the car on stands and wondering if all the trans fluid drained out and causing the grinding like sound because im scared to let the car run and let the new fluid circulate. Any suggestions on what I should do or what it could be?? thanks

 

[Asa]

when is it grinding?

 

[Anonymous]

It's grinding when I start and it doesn't stop. I've only left it running for a few minutes each time because it sounds so bad.

 

[Asa]

did you mess with the starter at all?
it could be that the starter solenoid is not disengaging, letting the starter stay hooked up to the engine while it's turning

 

[Anonymous]

There was an electrical problem and the starter solenoid was fried and I replaced it. With all the problems prior to this I wouldn't doubt that as a possibility. Any way I could go about checking it?

 

[pedal2themetal45]

Sound like a stuck solenoid.
Start is and if its making the noise rev it just a little and shut if off and right back on befor it dies. this should dis-engage the starter. if the noise stops then thats the coulpret.. check your starter wireing. unhook the coil wire so the motor won't start and try to start it. let go of key and see if the starter is still trying to start it. if it is then you have a wireing prob. if not maybe loosen the starter bolts just a little so the starter can wiggle just a little and see if that stops it .. if it does then you need some shims in the starter or somthing ... as something is binding the starter up causing it to stick.
tim

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like indeed starter is not kicking out/off. If you can get some one to assist you, finding the problem is easy. Remove the starter cable starter side not battery) from the side of the solenoid. Hold cable to output side of solenoid and have helper crank engineas soon as it cranks up pull cable off solenoid if starter kicks out then replace solenoid is wired right. Also make sure it is getting it trigger signal from the start side only of your ignition switch. If it this isn't the problem, replace starter or starter drive.Do this qiuckly to save your flywheel/flexplate teeth.Have helper ready to cut off engine. After you take out the starter it is easy to check if the starter or the starter drive is bad useing jumper cables and there should be obvious wear on starter drive teeth.

 

[Anonymous]

I went ahead and replaced the starter and the solenoid and I keep getting the same noise, so Im wondering if it is bad wiring. Also I found out the other day that someone else had been running the engine every once in awhile with no trans fluid. Do you think this may have affected the torque converter and is causing the noise or is it still possible its a problem with the starter.

 

[LaGrasta]

are you sure the starter is hooked-up correctly? It really doesn't sound like a tranny problem to me.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure how it could be hooked up wrong. I learned today that the person before me tried to jump the battery straight from another battery not in a car.. Thats what fried the solenoid. Do you think it could have messed something up in the wiring? I figured it would have done something to the starter if it fried the solenoid but I just replaced it =\

 

[Anonymous]

After installing the new solenoid and starter I'm still getting the same noise. I unhooked the coil from the motor and tried to start the engine and when letting go of the key the starter is still trying to start the engine. So now I guess it's down to a wiring problem. I'm not sure if its something in the switch or up at the solenoid. Thanks to everyone who posted and helped me out.

 

[Stubby]

Disconnect the cable from the sol to the starter.
Disconnect the small wires on the sol.

One of the small wires feeds power from the switch to the sol to engage the starter. This should be on the small terminal closest to the battery.

The other small wire feeds 12 volts from the sol to the coil for cranking. This should be the post on the other side.

Make sure these wires haven't been swapped.

Turn the ignition switch to the run position.

One of the wires (the one that engages the sol) should not have any power.

One of the wires(the one that feeds 12 volts to the coil) I think, will have 6 to 8 volts feeding back from the coil. It may only complete the circut whill engaging the starter.

Turn the switch to the cranking position and the wire that feeds power to the sol will read 12 volts, let off and it will read 0.

If it passes these test then it should be OK unless it is picking up something on the charging circut.

I have also seen sol stick in the cranking position when the battery is low. The sol is designed to engage hard and fast to arc as little as possible. When they engage slowly they tend to arc and stick.

 

[The Plankster Prankster]

to see if the starter itself is the problem, i would suggest unbolting it, putting a couple long bolts in from the back of the bell housing (if you can), or all threads from the front, just to align if for my test, then have a man under the car holding it in place as another man starts the engine. then pull the starter out on the bolts (alignment pins) i just had you install. if the grinding shuts up, then its clearly an issue between starter and flywheel. if the grinding continues, then the starter is not the problem. if you do this, you will want to have an extra ground wire to teh body of the starter so if its stuck on, it wont be arcing against any ground it can find.

 

[Anonymous]

I finally got it working : ) Thanks to everyone for the help!

 

[Stubby]

Tell us what it was so we can learn.

 

[Anonymous]

The solenoid was hooked up backwards, but I never knew because it would'nt start the other way around. I didn't realize it until I cleaned the paint off the wires to see the colors. Theres a break somewhere in the wire from the switch to the solenoid. I'm sure it got fried, just have to find out where it is. Hope no one else runs into this problem and painted wires. hah