zoned019

I tried to start my car last night when I heard a loud POP.
After that the car wouldn't turn over and I just got this little whirring sound like its spinning and not catching.....which led me to believe the starter was bad.
So today I jack up the car and go underneath to try and replace the starter (yes, I had another one sitting in the garage..lucky me). Disconnect the battery, disconnect the ground and wires from the starter, then I'm searching for the bottom bolt.....but it's not there? wtf? it's missing! So next thing I do is get the top bolt off, which was only hand tight..as soon as I get that bolt off the starter just drops. I get the starter in my hands and take a look at it and there's a huge chunk of metal missing where the bottom bolt would go in.

Now my question is, where did this piece of metal go? And the bolt? (I just spent 2 hours searching for another bolt like that and NOWHERE has got it, I went to 3 auto stores, 2 hardware stores, and even Fastenal..it's a 10 x 1.25 pitch, length 65) so now I'm on a search for the original bolt somewhere...there's no way it could have gotten thrown inside the tranny is there? I sure hope the threads inside there are okay too....
But I need my car!!! and there's nowhere to get another bolt unless I drive 40-50+ miles..Shouldn't the damn thing be on the ground somewhere in my driveway?! I've looked everywhere..

So do I continue my searches on the ground around/in the driveway or should I be looking somewhere else? Anyone have any idea where it would possibly 'fly' off to?

JonGTR

You might not find one with the correct length and thread dimensions, but you might want to try one that just slides all the way through and tightening it with a nut. That should hold it until you can get one from Hyundai. do you have a dealer in your area?


Did you ever take off your tranny before, and maybe not tighten it enough? The starter puts a lot of strain on those bolts and they WILL back out if they weren't tightened enough.


You could always try pop-starting it. lmao.gif

zoned019

Yeah, car was swapped like last year..

I just got off the phone with a dealer actually, the bolt is 92 cents but I have to pay $5 in shipping beacuse it's a special order owned.gif

Hmm..I'm on spring break this week so I'm at home but I really wanted to fix my car now because I can't really work on it at school...and I have to go back sunday night. If I just push started it so that I could drive back, how would I block off the hole in the tranny for the drive? Certainly I wouldn't want any mud or dirt getting thrown up in there (since there would not be a starter even on the car that would just leave an open hole to my tranny)

If only I could find the damn bolt....it's got to be on the ground or something somewhere!! it can't just disappear..then I could fix it in like 20 minutes. I've got it all jacked up and the new starter and tools all here just waiting...

It's pretty amazing the size of the chunk that got blown off the old starter, wow, the whole nose on that side is just gone.

I can't understand at all how the bolt + a chunk of metal aren't lying on the ground underneath my car.....and I know it happened last night because of the loud pop during turning over, that was obviously it breaking. It's not possible for the bolt to get thrown inside the tranny is it? It would have to get shot OUT right? where you would then think it hits the block or something and just falls down. I'm so pissed that I can't just find this bolt and fix it now..

Casper

That bolt could of been missing for a while. You said the other bolt was loose right? Its possible that the one bolt was holding the starter in place enough, but that last time starting was enough to loosen/bend the other bolt to the point that the teeth on the starter jumped off the teeth on the flywheel.

Hyundaidb883

i can't picture in my head ANY possible way that the bolt could've went INTO the tranny... the chunk of starter i CAN see, but not the bolt.. it's very likely that you lost the bolt before you came to a stop and MAYBE the other bolt was on just tight enough to hold the starter in place one last jolly good time.. ???? i don't know either, but at least you solved the mistery. fing02.gif

zoned019

Oh, I guess I thought that just 1 bolt wouldn't be able to hold the starter in tight enough to successfully start the car ever.
Guess I have no choice but to wait until Wednesday and get the part from the dealer..

Is there a way I could block the hole over the tranny so I could drive back to school (and just push start it)? Or would that not be good?

Hyundaidb883

it's up to you how desperate you are to get back to wherever your school is, but i'm assuming your school is a bit of a drive away from the dealer, so how will you get your part? honestly i would personally wait because i don't like pushing my car to the limits when it comes up to stuff like this. That's like saying you found a huge tear in your timing belt and you want to chance driving down the street.

not only that, but depending on what you have in mind to cover the size of the starter hole, you risk having "whatever" it is you plan to cover it up with falling into the tranning or coming into contact with any other moving parts.. just sounds like alot of extra work for nothing.

zoned019

Actually, my school and the dealer are in the same city, it's my home (where I'm at now) which is about an hour away..
lol.

albert

You dont' have to cover that starter hole/opening. If you notice, your transmission is VENTED. There are holes into the bellhousing on Manual trannies to allow for air cooling and to get rid of clutch dust. You'll have no problems because of that.

To me, it sounds like your timing belt snapped and/or something BAD happened inside the motor, that stopped the crank/flywheel, and caused the starter to kick back/break.

I would try turning the crank bolt with a long breaker bar just to verify that the engine turns over with no problems.

Jaws021

during one of my many explosions..

I had the starter problem.. Seeing as how the other bolt was loose.. that could be it..

Just get a thiner bolt... 2 washers... and a nut..

Tighten the crap out of both of them..

That should be a good temporary fix. OH also get pressure washers as well.