ok.......i get up the other morning and go to start my car like normal. (94 z28.....no mods) The normal sound i hear when my engine starts is replaced by the most horrible grinding noise that i can imagine. i tried a couple more times and it did the same thing. so, i get on this great site and run searches on what could possibly be wrong and figure out that it may be the starter. i jack the car up and crawl under there and immediately see what is wrong. the nose (i don't know what else to call it) is cracked beside where one of the bolts holding it on is. after reading a bit more on this site...i attempted (attempted being the opperative word here) to replace it myself. i removed everything from the starter but could not get the damn thing out. i tried everything that everyone on this site did to get theirs out but couldn't. (i did not drop the y-pipe because i was not sure how hard it would be to get back on. i am no mechanic.....i just like fixing things that i believe i can do myself. anyway, i ended up having it towed to my mechanic and he ended up taking the dust cover off and getting it out that way. long story short.....$300 total to get the starter, get my car towed, and get it put on. when i went to pick up my car...he told me that they had no problems changing my starter and everything looked good on the flywheel. they replaced the starter and the car would not start. he said it was like my engine was locked up. he told me he had to take a prybar and rotate it by hand a few turns and then it started. it has been starting fine ever since but it has only been one day. do any of you know what could have caused that? i mean, my car always ran fine untill the day it didn't start the first time. i just don't want to drive it if i am going to do more harm than good if you know what i mean. any info would be good. i also have pictures of the cracked starter on my car if anyone wants to see them but they look about the same as all of the other ones i have seen on here except mine is still on the car.

 

Any mechanic that has been around for just a few years would have encountered a broken starter nose cone. They also would know that a backfire WHILE cranking or a flooded cylinder would cause that. The flooded cylinder would have explained the "locked up" feeling this Einstein felt. Both incidents put enormous pressure on the starter.

The most common cause for improperly burned fuel is the need for an ignition tune up. So the first question is how long has it been since you had the plugs, wires, cap, rotor, coil(yes coils are tune up items) and O2s replaced? Yes the symptoms can show up one day to the next. So don't even go there.

The next problem could be injectors but much less likely than ignition. They should still be cleaned PROPERLY on a routine basis none the less.

 

opti was replaced about 5 years ago. i am not sure about the spark plugs but that is the funny thing. i had just ordered new plugs and wires off of summit the day before the starter went out. now i have the plugs and wires in the floorboard of my car and i have to save more money to get them done because all the money i had went on the starter. so, back to square one....at least my car starts.

 

don't know about the o2's either so they probably need to be replaced. damn....i can't catch a break.

 

5 YEARS AGO........ need I say any more.

Please do a search regarding cap and rotor. Let's not even mention the plugs.

 

ok....i was reading what you posted the first time speedy and i was thinking that maybe you read it wrong. (you may not have....just making sure ) the engine WAS locked up...it was not a locked up "feeling". my mechanic literally had to take a prybar and manually turn it over a few times. it was stuck. after he broke whatever was binding free, it started just fine and it has ever since. i am not sure how that would have been a fuel problem.

also, i never had any problems before the day that it didn't start. the engine always started fine and there was never any backfires or anything like that. the morning i tried to start it, i was met with the grinding sound. it didn't even try to start. it wasn't like it was trying to start and then a loud sound......the grinding is all there was.

like i said, maybe you read it wrong and maybe you didn't.....i just wanted to give you that information as well.