Yooper-Al Posted August 17, 2015 Share Posted August 17, 2015 I swapped the EJ2.2 from my '95 Brighton (manual transmission) into my '98 Legacy Outback (auto transmission) a few days ago and am tying up a few loose ends. After a few starts though, the starter quit engaging. Got good clicks and it spun, but would not turn over the motor. I pulled it out last evening and found when powered up and with power to the solenoid, the starter drive will pop in and out like it should and the starter motor whirls away, but I can hold on to the drive gear without it turning. My first thought was the starter drive (Bendix) but I guess it could be the gear set too. Anyway, I have the starter that was originally in the '98 (automatic) but I notice that the flange that bolts to the bellhousing is "clocked" a few degrees different from the manual transmission starter and it will not bolt up. Can I easily swap out the starter housings and use the good starter motor/gear set/drive? I see replacement starter drives are $200 online!!! Thanks for any help. Yooper-Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted August 17, 2015 Share Posted August 17, 2015 Nope. Find a used one. I think there are a few threads in the classifieds right now with EJ starters for sale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yooper-Al Posted September 14, 2015 Author Share Posted September 14, 2015 I'm still having problems with my starter. Must be something simple that I'm not seeing. The problem above turned out to be a bad starter drive (Bendix) that would turn easily in either direction. Ok, I got a good used starter for the '95 2.2 manual transmission. Put it in and it worked fine. I drove it around a bit and shut it off (about 20 miles from home, of course) and experienced the same problem: engine won't turn over and the starter just clicks and spins. I trailered it home and pulled the starter and found the same problem, the starter drive spun freely in both directions. So, I had a friend install a new starter drive while I was out of town. Then I reinstalled the starter and all went fine till I was about 30 miles from home and it would not start again, just clicks and spins. I yanked the starter out and went to Autozone and got a $100 rebuilt starter. Installed it, but this time when the engine started, I could definitely hear bad noises from the starter, like the drive was still engaged. I pulled the wire from the solenoid and the noise continued. I contacted a friend who suggested shimming the starter from the bellbousing with a washer on the top and bottom bolts. Tried that and it was of no help. Gave up on it as it was way past dark last night. So here are a few thoughts: It acts as if the starter drive is already meshing with the flexplate gear when I install the starter. I don't know if that is the case or not as I have not gotten in there and measured anything.Could that be? If the drive is constantly engaged with the flexplate, it would make the starter drive get hot and crap out eventually. Also, the upper bolt seems about 2 1/2" longer than it needs to be. The lower bolt seems about right. Have I forgotten some housing or adaptor that would justify that upper bolt length? When I swapped out the old flywheel/clutch etc. for the flexplate, I do not remember any shims etc. to go between the flexplate and crankshaft, only a plate that went between the flexplate/crank bolt heads and the flexplate. Could I have the flexplate bolted up backwards? Am I using the incorrect starter (auto trans vs. manual trans) mistakenly? It seemed as though there was no way to install the auto trans starter on my engine. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted September 14, 2015 Share Posted September 14, 2015 Upper starter bolt holds the top corner of the bellhousing to the engine block. Get rid of the junkzone starter. The starter is a gear drive and the pinion is not engaged when it is drawn back inside the housing, so you should be able to spin it. Remove the cover on the back of the solenoid and push the plunger in to slide the pinion out and engage the gear train. Kinda sounds to me like you have a power or ground issue to the starter. Make sure the main ground cable is attached to the bracket which is held by the upper starter bolt. Make sure the battery terminals are clean and secure. Make sure the positive cable to the starter is clean and tight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yooper-Al Posted September 14, 2015 Author Share Posted September 14, 2015 Thanks for the tips FTFM. My ground cable is correct, it is on a bracket under the top starter bolt, nice and clean. Positive cable is nice and clean too. Battery cable ends are clean and clamped well. When I write that the starter drive spins easily in both directions, I mean that when they start out as new, they rotate (slip) in one direction only and driving the starter motor when spun in the opposite direction. Just like the (literally) hundreds of correctly working starter drives I have messed with over the years. Once I've made a trip with the car, the drive gear slips in both directions. I have ruined the clutch of these starter drives. Once I have ruined the new starter drive by driving a bit, and I remove the starter, I can actually hold on to the starter drive gear as I put power to the starter terminal bolt and jumper it across to the solenoid terminal. The solenoid will kick the drive gear out like it is supposed to and the starter motor runs. When not powered, the starter drive is retracted in the starter, not sticking out like when it is powered up and the solenoid is engaged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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