Something wrong with starter or flexplate, truck wont start anymore

[Lil Ape]

I don't know how to best describe what is happening, but yesterday when I when to go start up my truck, It made a loud grinding sound. Like metal hitting against metal. Got underneath and found that it was something with the starter and flexplate. It looked like the starter gear wasn't fully engaging the flexplate. It looked like the teeth on the starter gear was smashing into the teeth on the flexplate. Almost like the teeth on the starter weren't slipping in between the teeth on the flexplate. I only had my dad bump the ignition over for a second so I didn't really get a good look at what was happening. Didn't want to chew up my flexplate. But I took the starter off today and took it to get tested, and it passed everything. Which I figured cause the starter is only a few months old.

The truck was starting and running just fine it seemed just a few days ago. So I don't know what caused this or why it's happening. The starter already had two shims on it My dad said something is wrong with the flexplate which I hope not. Anyone had an idea?

[hatzie]

It happened all of a sudden... I'd guess the center cracked on the flexplate.

[mrolds88]

Can you move the flexplate / converter by hand? Pull the cover and check. Sounds like the flywheel too. Had one do it on me a number of years back on an 89 S-15. Was able to take the twisted one out (in pieces of coarse) and put the new one in without taking the trans/transfer case out of the truck. That was an interesting job.

[Lil Ape]

Move it as in rotating it? Or just wiggling it back and forth?

[motornut]

check for wear too
mine was like that tried a few starters i had,then a new one
turns out the fly wheel was done

[mrolds88]

Yes to rotate it and also move it front to back.

[Lil Ape]

Okay so I tried moving the flexplate and it wont budge. It will not rotate left or right and wont move forward or back. It's on there tight. Don't see any cracks, but do see some wear on the edges of the teeth. No teeth missing, some teeth are better than others. The starter gear has wear on the edges of the teeth as well. Have some pics of everything if people need to see.

[chevy-fun]

Is the battery fully charged. Maybe it didnt fully engage the clutch on starter due ti battery being weak. An when they tested it did you see if it came completly out an spin. I had a starter that didnt fully pop out but pass the 3 test before.
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[KevinD85]

I cracked the center of my flexplate on my old 1988 k1500 truck with a 305 turbo 400.
scared the crap out me when it snapped. The truck still started though just sounded like hell.
I would say the flywheel is worn if the starter is good. also make sure it is shimmed properly.

[Lil Ape]

The battery was actually drained from accidentally leaving the key on overnight. But I jumped started it off my jeep and it worked all the time, until the day this all happened. And I didn't actually watch the tests myself, all I know is they passed everything. I was going to try to test it myself but haven't gotten around to it yet. The starter already had two shims on it.

[slam59]

My 99 Tahoe recently did this about 2 months ago, and I put a new starter on it. Then 3 weeks later it barely grinded just a little at first,just barely, but would start right up. Did that for 2 days then could not get it started at all. It would try and crank over, but would not start just keep turnig over. Was told a bad cap and rotor with bad corrosion would cause a vehicle to not turn over due to a very poor contact and so I replaced both cause when I took them off they were very corroded, and sure enough it fired right up. Check your cap and rotor and see if its in bad shape. You never know. very inexpensive fix.

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by motornut

check for wear too
mine was like that tried a few starters i had,then a new one
turns out the fly wheel was done

Boy those are DONE Not quite skipping over the tops yet but....
The lead/feed reversing gears on my 100 year old metal lathe looked like that. Amazing how quiet she got with three new spur gears. No more snap and pop.

[Lil Ape]

Just an update, I installed the starter the other day without any shims and it started right up. My guess was it was too far out and just wasn't getting enough bite on the flexplate, causing it to slip. Hopefully I don't run into this problem again. Thanks for the help guys.

[motornut]

Originally Posted by hatzie

Boy those are DONE Not quite skipping over the tops yet but....
The lead/feed reversing gears on my 100 year old metal lathe looked like that. Amazing how quiet she got with three new spur gears. No more snap and pop.

Lil Ape- Glad to hear it got better!
yup, i didn't think it was bad till I was able to compare it to the new one