Hi Their, this is the second time this year I am going to replace my starter, both times it cracked/broke where it engages the flywheel. I have a 95 olds 88 Royale with the 3800 series ll engine. Is there something else I should look into before installing it again. Is their anybody out there who has had or heard of a problem like this, thank you.
Tommy

Did the orig had shims yet all other once maybe were installed w out one?

Thanks Vinnie for writing, no the old on did not have shims.

Seen it happen twice...both times the engine was hydrolocked....

Thanks for the reply Gus, so what should I do to remedy this situation.

Gus' response does not apply in this situation, unless you recently drove through a large puddle. An engine becomes hydrolocked when a large amount of water is sucked into the intake manifold causing water to accumulate on top of the pistons. Water does not compress, so when the pistons are on the up stroke they hit the water and the engine locks up.

Aside from the possibility you are buying second rate replacement parts that are failing early, the only thing that comes to mind is the starter is not properly aligned to the ring gear on the flywheel. With the starter removed, rotate the engine by hand (wrench and cheater bar on the harmonic balancer bolt, disconnect the battery and pull the ICM connector) and examine the ring gear through the starter opening for signs of unusual wear. That might provide a clue as to what is happening.

I was responding to the ONLY times I ever saw the nose of the starter , break....that was because the engine became hydrolocked because of a leaking upper plenum at the EGR stove pipe....it filled the cylinders with coolant....

Otherwise, it has to be a bad starter, or some type of alignment problem with the flexplate(shims).....

I was going to say, the 3800'* are pretty common to hydrolocking IF it decides to drink its own coolant AFTER shutdown. I'm sure I can dig up a thread or few here where the owner removed sparkplugs just to have coolant gush out of them.

So yes, based on previous members here, it would be possible for an engine to hydrolock, and cause issues while attempting to start.

Thanks Gus and Mike for writing back. OK I tried to turn the crank,but it will only move about 4 inches in each direction, so I didn,t want to force it. I did have a coolant leak last month it appeared to be coming from the water pump so I replaced the pump, coolant elbow and o-ring, however it was still losing coolant from somewhere but there was no evidence from where (no puddle under the car). perhaps it is leaking from the upper manifold, I am thinking about replacing the upper intake manifold and lower manifold gasket, I did remove 1 spark plug but no coolant came out. Should I first try blowing any coolant out by removing all plugs or will the coolant come out when I remove the manifolds, again thanks for all your help.
Tommy

Pull the plugs on all of the cylinders and then try to manually turn the crank bolt....if it still won't move, uh-oh....