Nand01

So my S finally gave out and didnt want to start, thought it was the battery tried jumping it and nothing. pushed and popped the clutch and drove her home... i followed the DIY posted on here for starter removal.. once i got under the car i found out that the top bolt was never bolted back in because the starter was loose after removing just the bottom bolt.. anyhow i believe this is why my starter got chewed up.. so if your running your S with out the top bolt in, I would advice you put it in there (IMO) i also broke the power connector because the previous owner/ mech who ever did it put enough torque on that little nut as possible... Went to autozone and ordered a new tarter since its a special order not in stock for 120+ core with lifetime warranty... i know cheap but if it breaks ill have another for free. also found random hoses not clamped or placed right.. I'Ve only owned the car 3 months so im fixing the previos owners mistakes, this is one of my dreams cars so everything will be as perfect to my ability.


Infamous knock sensor that breaks 99/100 while doing this...(painted the sensor in gold to spot easy while putting new one in)


power piece broken (while removing the nut)


Something is missing here..thanks to flywheel and the whole thing has shaft play


Flywheel teeth seem to be fine. installing new starter Fri once it comes in...

BTW I dont think it is necesary to remove the intake and alternator to do this (which i did.. but didnt have to), maybe because i never had a top bolt to undue, but there are also a bunch of hoses in your way to even get to the top bolt if you were to go the top way, not to menton hitting that Knock sensor.. Everything was done from underneath the car in my case.. Thanks for looking.

SLracer

Yea that upper starter bolt is a significant pain especially if its your first time doing it, you need to undo the alternator and intake for it no way around it without causing more problems than its worth. After doing it a few times the best way is someone under the car feeling for the bolt/holding the socket on it while the other is up top with 3 extensions

unclefester

You have rather a LARGE chunk of t he starter housing missing, could still be in the flywheel area - not sure i'd want to leave that unchecked ......

Taken from here ... https://www.s2ki.com/...1#entry21677168

Nand01

Alredy got the S on the road again, i put both bolts back on.. it wasnt that hard i conected a bunch of extensions and got to it. I am concerned about that chunk in there but i have checked through the bottom slot and cant find anything. I will be doing a Clutch job over the winter so ill find out then where that chunk is. Thanks guys.

cdelena

Yeah, the top bolt on my car was left out by the dealership after some warranty work on the trans and I never go back there for work. You are right it is very important and just not that hard to get the bolt back in.

TrumpetTitan

When I first saw the pic I thought it was your Timing Chain Tensioner. :0

I'd be scared as hell if I knew the worm gear on that could just snap

Nand01

Part of the reason my started f*d up was because i took the car to 3 different shops to figure out why i had a vibration (it was tires) some mechanics are just envious and fk around.. they tried and failed at starting my car numerous times, not to mention clanking i heard while they tried to drive it ive only owned an S for a few months so i wanted "expert" knoledge. i should have learned when one said and insisted to tell me my car was half nonda half mazda SMDH.

fatjoe10

Hmm maybe I should be worried. I purposely left that top bolt out when I replaced the clutch knowing I'd have to do the job again sometime in the future. It's been 4 years and 80k miles and no issue so far. Lucky I guess.

unclefester

I would guess in the above case, the bottom bolt wasn't fully tight either and that allowed the starter motor to shift and the flywheel has removed the upper part of the starter housing.




It's not some 'small chunk' that is missing! The noise that made when it got removed would have indicated something was wrong.

As for running it with only one bolt, the torque that one bolt is having to withstand .... there's two bolts in there for a good reason.

Nand01

Since I bought the car the starter has always been loud, but the screeching started on my lunch break where the car hesitated to start And then it wouldn't until I let her cool down or sit for an hour. Then it just went to crap after taking her to shops. As for that bottom bolt it was on there good, I used a tube to give me some more lever to loosen it, and I'm not a small guy. Honda engineered these cars very well, so for a part that requires two bolts why leave one out. (i also put brake grease on the bolts since that dries up and Holds up heat so they won't become loose, also made it easier to put them in)