Dexron ATF will work, but it'* safer to just by PS fluid. Slight difference, but not much.

I put some in and it may be my imagination, but it seems quieter. I had my dad start it while I hovered over the engine. The sound during startup seems to be around the back of the engine somewhere.

The sound is not the steering or suspension. It is the starter. After a 270 mile trip yesterday, the car doesn't like to start. The starter will just spin and sometimes catch, and if it does start, it almost always makes the sound.

Heres the deal. The mechanism for retracting the starter gear was slowly failing. First when turning right, it would slide over and make contact with the flywheel, then it progressed to where the starter had no control over the gear and it just flopped around. It would only start if the gear happened to flop over and engage the flywheel. Got a new one now, but it finally went when I was two hours from home.

Soyou have a new starter now? Any damage to the flywheel?

Well, its a rebuilt one from Advance with a lifetime warranty. I checked the flywheel out pretty good and didn't see any damage. The gear on the starter was a little messed up.