Cold Start Grind

[dhbmedic]

Bought a 94 K2500 4x4 w/around 193K on it :D. Burnt up the starter at around 200K, replaced it with a NAPA part. Works great as long as the weather is warm-ish (i.e., warmer than about 40F) :).

I keep it plugged in overnight when the weather will be cooler than that and it fires right up in the morning. Trouble is...when I come out to start up after a 14-hour shift at work (no plugin available) and it's cool-ish (say, 30F or so), the first crank I always get a grind :eek:. When I shut it down & recrank, it fires right up.

Not sure what in the heck could be going on here, and no luck finding similar troubles in the forums (fora?). Anyone heard of such a monster??

[Robyn]

GRIND ??? As in the starter grinds when it engages the ring gear ??

Or just a long crank session to get the engine going?????

Missy

[rustyk]

Sure sounds like a sticky solenoid or a slight starter misalignment.

[Quazzy]

I went through 3 starters on mine in under 6 months because they just don't put em together worth a crap anymore.. #2 didn't even work at all right outta the box! Apparently tolerances are just not important enough to worry about nowadays.. I had one that did the same thing as yours. If you're handy with fixing stuff, take the starter out and take the solenoid cover off and make sure everything is well lubed inside, and make sure everything moves around without binding. Otherwise, take it back and tell them it's junk. They go through returns on starters constantly these days, and they probably won't even ask you any questions about it.. Other than why you're returning it, haha..

[dhbmedic]

Turns out that NAPA gave me the starter for a stick :confused: (a bit shorter than the correct part for auto), and it ended up chewing up both starter pinion & flywheel to the tune of $800:mad:. Unfortunately I only have a credit card receipt, not the itemized one.:eek: They did replace the starter but it would be nice if they paid for the damn flywheel. Of course, giving me the correct part in the first place would have been the best solution.:cool: