Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting grinding noise/won't start

Tried starting car this morning. First time no problem. Had to make quick stop few minutes later, when I tried to start again the car made a horrible grinding noise and wouldn't start. Any one out there have any advise on what's wrong or where I could start looking for problems?

condition is called milling.The starter does not engage the flywheel causing metal to metal grinding. Is this the first time this has happened ??

Mine did the same thing the day after Christmas Only had 60k miles on it too. The noise is starter gear not fully engaging the flywheel.

170 dollars (parts only, local dealer price as he was the only one who could get it the same day) for a new starter, and a couple hours of DIY time in the driveway and all is well again.

I think my car was just jealous it didn't get any X-Mas presents New ford starter is a nice shiny coppery/bronzy look housing which does look better than the flat balck of the original - so maybe my car just wanted to look prettier under the hood.

similar thing happened in my roommate's sho. it turned out to be the crank positioning sensor.

This is the first time it has happened. Bought car used and not real sure what maint. was done.
I guess I will have the starter replace.

Seems like this is happening to a lot of people. Had mine in for the flexplate and starter repair at ONLY 25K miles. I just remembered that it got worse and worse as time progressed.


2.5 Duratech ATX

ATX's seem more prone to this problem because the flexplate actually moves when hit with the starter drive gear.A chamfer was added to the ring gear for the ATX to help engagement.

A starter by itself may not solve the problem. You will probably need to replace the flywheel too.

How difficult is the replacement? I have a Haynes manual.. that sucks. Some previous posts say only 2 bolts (no mention of size) and a wire harness hold it in. Is this correct? Also, accessible from the top of the engine? Thanks for the help!

It is very icky!

Disconnect battery. Remove air intake hose and air box. Depressurize and disconnect the fuel lines. May have to disconnect the heater coolant line(s) also. (The fuel and coolant lines are just so you can lift the starter out - it has to come back and then straight up through the hole you made by moving the lines.) Remove two nuts from wire connector on solenoid. There are two bolts on the starter - and they are likely frozen in pretty good Right side one is a straight shot with socket (13mm IIRC) and 6 inch extension, left one is buried under the mass of coolant hoses and outlets and can only be gotten with a wrench - you really do not want to round it off so be careful! Then just move the power wires out of the way and lift up back and out to remove the starter. I also unplugged the coolant temp sensor jsut to have more room. As long as you can get that one tough bolt out it's a straight forward job. The automatic may be different, and as Jim said may require new flex plate to fix.

My flywheel was only one year old and I only let it grind like 2 or 3 times for a VERY short time, and replacement of the starter fixed my problem - mileage may vary......