93 SSEi Starter LOCKED UP
 

SO.....
The daughters are on their way home, and rolling up to a red light, when they start to hear clunking from behind the dash. Then the gauges start going crazy, all jumping around like they do on startup. Finally there is some white smoke from under the hood, so they just shut it down (in the middle of the lane of traffic). At this point it will not restart, so they call home (thank GOD for cellphones).

Anyway, tow it to Pontiac and find out that there is power to the starter, but it will not crank, because the starter has locked up! Luckily the flywheel teeth are inspected and are all intact (whew). REALLY happy they had the foresight (or the teenage fear of something going wrong) to shut it down

$515 dollars later for a new starter installed, the car checks out and is starting and running fine. I guess the expected life for the starter is about 103,000 miles.

Just passing this along for anyone else with the same symptoms...FWIW

Regards.

Dave

Dave...not looking to scare you but that is anything from normal, expected or anything I've ever heard of. Glad it turned out good for you. But I'm thinking there might be some other electrical problem behind it.

Bill...JR... guys.. what are your thoughts?

I've personally encountered the situation of the gages going crazy, but that's common when the alternator and/or battery fail.

I can't comment about the smoke, but it sounds like there was another problem too. I've never heard of a starter failing such that the solenoid is stuck in the engaged position while driving.

Bill....I think every bonne owner has seen the gauges go crazy...lol

Mine are crazy LOL

There are a couple diffrent starters used on the bonnies over the years... The SC'd bonnies all used a gear reduced starter... These can become very expensive...

Actually thinking of installing an SSEi gear reduced starter on my 91<---- Starter is getting weak... 970 amp battery and the starter is still sluggish...LMAO

The Bonnie L27 used the basic starter which is cheaper...

$500+ later seems a little steep for a starter replacement... But a starter can go at any time...

From what was described, I'll say they got into the car hit the key and bam off the 3800 goes... Little did they know that starter was still engaged, and in a short time the starter was smoked... I have seen this happen many times on diffrent cars... Just be glad that the starter did not catch fire or anything of the sort...

I have never replaced a starter on the cars I have, they are all original.... I try to keep things under the hood clean as well, started do not like being exposed to oil, the brushes especially...

But, there was nothing that could have been done... Sometimes this just happens to these starters or any starter for that matter...

Glad they had a Cellio to call you :wink:

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Thanks for all of the input, guys. They have been noticing sluggish starting for a while now, so I imagine that it WAS going...just taking its time doing it! I'll bet it WAS engaged as they were driving, but am still really glad we avoided having to replace the FLYWHEEL!

Thanks again. This board ROCKS!

Regards.

Dave

Thats what we are here for Dave.... And we're glad you didn't have to replace the flywheel either.. :wink:

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Ack... 500+ for a starter replacement... man I wish I coulda got there first and pocketed the 400$ profit on a hour job....

This sounds more like the Bendix drive is locked up to me, rather than something wrong with the starter motor itself.

Really, how much can a replacement starter cost at the parts puppies?