Turbo17

I did the clutch a while back (and RMS and front seals and new pressure plate, machined the flywheel, replaced throwout bearing, timing/balance belts, etc.). It's at 170K. It's stock - this was just regular maintenance.

Prior to that the starter worked well. Now it hesitates, like it's having a hard time getting the engine turned over past one point, or like the battery is low (it's not). It's not really causing me any problem, but it annoys me, and I kind of worry about the winter, or possibly burning out the starter as it loads down and seems to struggle to get past the bad spot. It doesn't happen every time.

Has anyone seen this before? I should probably just go down and remove/reseat the starter, but I'm wondering if anyone has any comments. Could the removal and replacement of the starter ring gear have caused this? Does anyone ever shim the starter (it's original and I understand it's a larger starter - newer replacements are smaller?)

As a side issue - it's still got the factory original turbo. I checked motion of the turbo shaft when it was apart and it seemed decent for 170K miles, but how much longer can the original turbo last with 95% highway driving? What does a replacement turbo cost?

Thanks for any comments.

Seattle944

I just pulled my turbo 26/6 at 204,000. When I pulled it I found oil above the valves..possible blown turbo seals. Replacement cost vary depending on what work you do yourself and what turbo you go with.

Black51

Hit the starter solenoid with a rubber mallet a few times. See if it helps free it up a bit. If so, that's your cue to either rebuild it or buy a new(rebuilt) one. The thing with the original starters is that they'll go bad out of nowhere.

pa944red

I had the same issue with the turbo I used to have after completing all of the work you did on my car and then some. Before you replace anything else back off the mounting bolts, realign the starter and then reinstall but don't torque the ever living **** out of the bolts. Let us know how you make out.

Tom

Black51

If he's gonna back the bolts off, he might as well take the starter off and bench test it with 12V to see if it even runs. No point in taking a broken part off only to put it right back on without finding out it's broken.

Turbo17

The starter clearly runs and as far as I can tell is producing full torque and power. The car started the last three times yesterday without any hesitation. That could be because the engine fired up and started before the starter got to the "slow" part of the ring gear/crank cycle. To me it seems kind of like the starter isn't perfectly aligned or there isn't enough clearance and at some point it binds on the ring gear. I'll remove the bolts and reseat the starter, possibly giving a few thousandths more distance between the starter shaft and the ring gear.

Thanks for the comments.