I've been having this problem with the starter where the car will start or try to start a couple times, then every time I try it after that the starter just grinds. I've dropped it and tested it twice and it works, and after I remount it, it'll work once or twice and then only grind again. The receipt for this starter is in the car, and it says the previous owner bought it right before I bought the car from him. any help with this would be much appreciated.

 

how was the ring gear on the flexplate/flywheel i have the same issue, but in my case a few of the teeth are getting worn so the starter will not engage in the teeth before spinning try adjusting the starter as close to the wheel as possible and inspect the ring gear and replace if bad. secondly is it the correct starter? there are two gear set for gm i think a 132 or a 139 toothe so inspect the tooth seaing in the ring gear

 

Turns out, PO had installed the wrong starter. I have the right one but haven't had a chance to install it yet.

 

was it one that had too short of a nose to properly engage?

 

I put the old and new starters side by side and they looked pretty much identical, but they had different part numbers. According to the parts store website, the number of the old one said it shouldn't work on my car but the new one should.

 

There are two basic starters. One for a 153 tooth and one for a 168 tooth flywheels. There are two bolt patterns. Some blocks have both some don't. The stick out shouldn't change. Just the bolt pattern. Autos have the 153 tooth version and sticks can have both depending on clutch diameter. If it bolts one it should be fine. If your getting intermittent starts you have a bad spot on the flywheel. You will need to inspect that before installing the new starter. Thats why there is a ... wait for it ... "inspection cover" on the transmission. They wont be missing completely most likely the side facing the starter will have a stretch of teeth with the corner chipped off. This will be as short as 2" maybe 6" and there may be a few spots like that. This is usually caused by someone putting in the starter and not setting the clearance to between the bendix (starter gear) and the flywheel. There is a little pin gauge that comes in the box with the new starter along with a stack of shims. The instructions will tell you how to do it. It sucks to do. I usually do it by ear. If I start the car and it the starter engages hard it will make a deeper than normal sound one thin shim usually clears it up. A loud shrieking sound is too much shim. This is why the shims are different thickness.

OR, just use the little pin gage and know its done right when you crawl out from under the car. BUT! A bad flywheel with kill a new starter and a bad starter will kill a new flywheel. The wheel needs inspected, you can use a fat screwdriver to pry on the teeth to rotate the engine so you can see the teeth all the way around. It will probably suck to do but it needs to be done. Pulling the plugs will help or having a buddy rotate the crank pulley by hand while you move the flywheel works too. Usually you can only move the flywheel a few inches at a time like this. They make a tool to rotate the flywheel but its up to you on that. They are kind of wonky to use so I sometimes just leave it in my box while using a pry bar or screw driver.

Oh yeah! If you buy a starter for a 95ish Tahoe you will get what is basically a mini starter. They are much smaller and easier to work around as well as having more torque and about 10# lighter. Way easier to handle with one hand.