M20 Starter Whizzing, Not Cranking

[Quinthirty]

Hi,

The starter just gave this whizzing sound as if it was just spinning without cranking the flywheel. I'm not sure what's wrong with it. My hunch is that the bendix gear/ pinion is not moving to hit the flywheel. Anyone who has experienced it and how you fixed it?

Thanks r3v!

[Poorboyz]

Either a wire came loose or you just have a bad starter solenoid on the Bendix gear.

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[dougie30]

Sounds like the teeth on the gears are stripped. Did you recently put it on?

[Poorboyz]

I'd say pull it and test it but that's not an easy thing to do on our E30s

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[SmokeE30]

It could be missing teeth on the flywheel or a bad Solinoid you could try rolling the car in gear to rotate to another section of the flywheel teeth and see if it works but if that wont work you will have to pull the starter which is not a very fun job on m20s but it is manageable

[Quinthirty]

I didn't touch it. I just passed through a long puddle of water, and it may have gotten wet. Because after parking a few hours, it happened.

[Quinthirty]

Fixed it today. It was a PITA to take out and put back the screw at the top of the bell housing. True enough, the insides were "muddy." Almost broke the solenoid as before I fixed it, it was just clicking, and not even whizzing. After cleaning the whole starter, and putting it back together, it worked, so its good as new.