Over the past week, with the increasingly cold weather, my reoccuring starter grind has returned. Upon initially starting the car, from a dead cold start, the car made a grinding noise and took one or two tries to get started. Both times it made a grinding noise. Ive read a few threads that the problem could be a bad bendix gear ( starter ) and have also read about the tensioner, potentially being the issue. Tuesday morning, upon startup the CEL came on and I left the car parked.

Has anyone else had this happen? If so did you have the starter replaced and how much? Ive yet to get a quote on a new starter, but Ive seen others quote prices such as 150$ , with a core exchange for a new / refurb. Anyone have any input on what the cause could be, with their experiences or know anyone selling a starter which has been pulled?

Anyone help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

No, but mine is noisy, too. Hoping it lasts the winter so I don't have to deal with it in the cold.

 

My starter has been grinding on pretty much every single cold start for about a year now, but it hasn't gotten worse, and I haven't done anything about it yet.

 

I had exact same problem couple mornings ago (just not CEL). I had grinding noise time to time since last year but yesterday morning (16degree), I had trouble cranking my car over.
I pressed start button 5 times and I had nothing. 6th time, I heard "tick""tick" and about 9th time, car finally started to crank and started.

I got to my work, and tried to start again and it started fine.

I don't think it's battery issue. Got my battery checked out that morning and it was good. Thank god this is not my DD.
I got a quote from dealership and it's around $210 for starter and around $600 total to get it installed.

My starter is about 11 years old so I believe it's almost end of it's life.

I've done research on this forum about cold starter issue and found some interesting info like lubing starter teeth etc... Why not just replace it if you're already there.

 

Lubing the teeth sounds cheaper, at least? Some people would rather not throw $200+ at a part that's not really broken.

Good to know, though. I may have to give that a shot before it does break.

 

lubing the teeth? really? hmmm I never seen that done before... If it's easy to get to then yes why not but it's not simple job. I wouldn't want to pay them twice to do it. It's just me. But if someone does do it, I'd like it know how it turns out. From a research, I believe couple members done it and it still made noise.

 

Oh, I'd do it myself. Yea, if I was paying someone it might make more sense to just replace it. I can see where you'd think that. Labor is expensive. Labor for the same work twice is just depressing.

 

And no, not a simple job.

 

Yep! I just don't have the money and time to do it now. I'll keep her in garage till time is right and get that fixed asap.

oh and btw, I didn't have any CEL. Just cranking issue.

 

I had this issue on my MDX. It is a pretty common honda issue. The shaft that holds the starter gear starts to lose lubrication and does not retract fast enough once the motor starts. To fix it pull the starter, chuck a bunch of good grease at it and reinstall.