Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Starter spins but no crank

Here are what I found:starter works ok,no missing teeth in flywheel,there is lound grinding noise when starter is turn on it seem starter is hitting the flywheel but can't make contact with it,please give me some help!

95 Zetech

If there are no missing teeth on the flywheel and it is not an alignment problem, the bendix in the starter is hanging up and the starter should be replaced before you damage the flywheel.

Just a tip: (found in the haynes manual for this car.. GET ONE if you don't have one..)

IF you have an MTX and your starter ever starts having these issues, again.

Put the car in 1st, leave the Parking brake OFF, and then rock the car from forward to back, until you feel it bouncing off the gear, and it won't go any further (do this repeatedly a couple of times..... this will "shift" the bendix and flywheel so that it will turn over.. once or twice more.. not a miracle fix... just a way to get it started once... enough to get it home, etc..

No relevant help in this thread, but for future use, I guess..


Ray

Ray is "spot on" with his suggestion. I've used this in the past, and it does work. In my case the "rock" was nothing more than taking my left foot outside the vehicle and attempting to push the vehicle. This was enough movement to loosen the bendix/flywheel. Bill

OK I think the flywheel has shaft away little bit from the starter,is there amy chaep fix?

Hey zzz, I am having the same problem with my Mystique, '99 I had thought it was my remote starter? Every once in awhile I go to start the car and it makes this god awful noise as though the car is already running and you hit the starter. When I shut the switch for my remote starter to off, the car usually starts. Weird. I know.. I am not sure what to do about it, I have the diagrams and the instructions to change the starter but I am not sure I want to get into that sort of thing, I have done starters on my old 80 mustang but I think this one is going to be a little more complicated.. Anyone have any thoughts on this??

if you are lucky it is not the flywheel, but the teeth on the starter drive( i used to change out the starter drives on my old mustang, the drives used to cost me about $8.00 each.. and put it on and then crank up and start up like new.. the teeth in the starter drive is made out of a softer metal than the more expensive and hard to replace flywheel..... i guess that is why they want the starter drive to wear out faster than the teeth on the flywheel.....
replacing the drive is alot cheaper than getting a new or rebuilt starter that goes for about $150 and up....