Community Member Credit: Frank / motorvate.ca
At the middle of the winter of 2000 the car would make this strange sound just as it started. It sounded like a high pitched “vvvveeeh”
When I removed the transmission to rebuild it, I disassembled the starter to have a look.
Remove everything up to the throttle body. This includes the air filter, mass air flow sensor, oil / oil vapor separator (the black box between the MAF and the throttle body), the black plastic intake ductings, and the battery. (The starter is circled in yellow)
By removing everything above, you will have lots of room to get at the starter. It is held on with 2 bolts. Disconnect the thick cable from the battery, unplug the thin black wire and then remove the 2 bolts that hold the starter. Remove the starter.
Remove the two bolts on the back of the starter. Pull the 2 halves apart.
This is the actual starter motor. It is very small, and not very powerful.
This is the starter’s own gear box using a planetary gear set. This gives a great reduction in speed, and a great increase in torque. In my case, the grease in the gear box was dried out, and cracked. I removed all the old grease and re-greased it with a synthetic lithium soap grease. This grease is good for high temperature. (and it was all I had!)
This is where the noise came from. The large gear on this shaft is on a one-way clutch. The grease had dried out, and now was almost sticky. Remove the circle clip under the black plastic cap, and the gear slides off. Clean and re-grease. Make sure that you don’t use too much grease. Assemble starter, and install it. Install everything that was removed.
Summary:
The grease in the starter had dried out over the last six years. When it dried out, it became almost sticky. This prevented the drive shaft of the starter to rotate smoothly. Instead it would stick to one side, and the “bang” to the other. (keep in mind there is 10-20 thousands of an inch play to rattle around in) This caused the high pitched “vvveeeh” sound.
By cleaning out the old grease, and re-packing in new synthetic lithium soap based grease, the problem is solved. The grease costs about $9 at Wal-Mart
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