lookstoomuch

As the title states, I need some help diagnosing a noise which occasionally happens when starting my 06 S w/94K miles. It happens immediately after the car fires and It does not happen every time but maybe 1 out of 10 and I've been trying to capture the sound for a couple of months. The only consistency is it happens when the car is cold, never when hot. Today when I captured it I had already started the car once cold heard the noise let it idle for a few seconds, stopped it and started again to capture. At first I thought it might be some valve train noise as I have the K&N intake so it's loud but now today almost think it's the starter not disengaging correctly. No other funny behavior from the car. Any experience or help is greatly appreciated. Video below:

fernando.

Sounds like the starter not disengaging completely. Mine does this from time to time.

Hfreak

Would have to agree with Fernando.

s2cho

Pretty normal, happens more in the cold correct? Just live with it until you replace the starter. It is pretty embarrassing when theres people outside and you start your car tho lol

lookstoomuch

Guess i'm not alone on this one and should have searched, I was at a bit of loss what terms to search for but found this.

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/s2000-un...tarter-655542/

Suggests low battery power could be the culprit which I guess kind of makes sense.

Chuck S

If you suspect low battery power jumper the battery to another battery or car and see how it sounds.

-- Chuck

silverstone_f22

Yup mine has been doing this for awhile now. Only when cold, but probably at least half the time most likely more. From research on here I pretty much concluded it's a nuisance from the starter bearing and shouldn't cause any issue except annoyance. I just deal with it because it's not worth spending the money for a starter to me when it's still functioning. Not to mention I've heard they aren't really easy to change by any means.

Car Analogy

They all do this in the cold. This issue pops up on this forum every fall when it starts to get cold, in those places where winter is a thing.

Sometimes a thread like this pops up in Spring as well, since mornings can be chilly.

If you change the starter, the issue is just going to reappear again way before the new starter is worn out.

The conclusion everyone eventually comes to is to just live with it.

06s2kid

yes mine does the exact same thing on cold starts! always wondered but didnt know how to ask, thanks for posting!!!

Dwnfrce

HA! What timing. I was just about to post a few videos of my 2005 147k miles having this same issue. Looks like it's a quirk of the car so I won't lose any sleep over it.