[QBall68]

Quick summary of my situation - '06 with 218K miles; driving the other day heard a ticking noise from the engine on the highway, and letting off the gas would reduce the frequency of the ticking...then the noise went away and engine sounded normal. Stopped at the store and when I went to restart it I heard a pop and then the starter just whirring/freewheeling.

So had it towed to the house and was able to get the old starter out to find this lovely view (old starter on the right obviously):

So that clearly explains the source of the ticking noise! My question is what next - do I have to drop the tranny to get to the flywheel/torque converter and clean out all the pieces of the starter?

This is getting well beyond my experience level so trying to judge if I can keep moving forward fixing it myself or do I throw in the towel and have it towed to a shop (or worse just move on, as I've been planning to get a new truck shortly anyway).

 

[RobKar]

Start a new thread and ask ... This was/is a how to thread.

 

[QBall68]

Start a new thread and ask ... This was/is a how to thread.

Thanks, and apologies - missed this being a pinned “how to” in my haste/panic…

 

[HighMilesTitan]

Wow. I just now found this thread. But it's okay, because I found a couple of decent videos to follow.

Just finished mine today (started Saturday). I would have finished yesterday but my torque wrench went bad. It wouldn't click no matter how much torque you applied or what the setting was. Anyway, I had one sent overnight by Amazon.

I feel like I've been beaten up, but it's finished and working.

Speaking of "beaten up," has anyone taken the "engineer" who put this thing UNDER THE MANIFOLD out behind the woodshed yet? I sure hope so.

 

[HighMilesTitan]

Since I just finished mine today, I have a few notes while it's still somewhat fresh in my mind.

Before starting the job, I bought a Topside Creeper. I literally couldn't have dreamed of doing this job without it. It just looked way too painful (and risky) to lay across engine components.

I broke my engine cover, which was literally the first thing I removed aside from the negative battery terminal. Imagine what I was thinking, that if I BREAK the very first item removed, that's how this job will go. The videos tell you that after the two front bolts are out, "Why, it just pops right off!" If I had known better, I would have gently pushed the peg up through the rubber grommet on each side. I have a new one on the way, so this was a $150.00 mistake.

Yes, the starter bolts are really tight. I bought a swivel ratchet, as advised in some videos, for the job. BUT... I just couldn't get enough leverage on it to break them free. So instead, I took a breaker bar and a 1/2-inch 14mm impact socket and slipped it in there. By rocking the bar back and forth, they broke somewhat easily. I used a little dual 3/8-1/2 ratchet I had just bought, about six inches long, to tighten them back down on the new starter.

When removing the 10mm manifold bolts and putting them back on, I taped my socket to the extension with duct tape to prevent it from slipping off up in there and landing somewhere in Never Never Land.

I could get a visual on the driver's side rear manifold bolt, but the passenger side was by touch and feel only. Twice, I dropped (two different) bolts while either removing or replacing them. Fortunately, I was able to see them through the manifold and retrieve them with a telescoping magnet.

When you use the fuel line disconnect tool, slide the tool WITH the fuel coupler as you're taking it off. I somehow thought it would just pop right off if the inner springs were compressed. I thought wrong.

I removed the brake booster hose from the booster, not the manifold. That was seriously the hardest I've ever seen a vacuum hose stuck. Surprisingly, it went back on very easily afterward.

After cleaning the intake ports with brake cleaner on a rag, I covered them with masking tape to prevent anything from falling in. The towel in the first post here was probably a better idea.

I put the manifold bolts back in afterward very loosely in case I needed to shimmy it a little bit. It turned out that I didn't. I had to finish today after getting a new torque wrench from Amazon overnight. My old one that broke started at about 30 foot-pounds anyway, and about 7 is needed on the manifold bolts.

This wasn't as intense as installing headers back in 2013, but not something I would look forward to tackling again.

I don't mean to go on about it, but there are two things they should have done differently:

1. Mount the starter on the bottom of the vehicle, you know, like SANE people would have done.
2. This might be controversial, but I think we should go back to the old days of having the solenoid separate from the starter, with the solenoid mounted in a nice, easily accessible location under the hood. I was getting the "single click, no start," and there's a 90% chance it was the solenoid. This could have been much easier and cheaper to fix.

 

[Hodado]

Definitely farming that job out

 

[HighMilesTitan]

Definitely farming that job out

I was going to do the same until I got quoted about $1000.00 at two different dealerships.

 

[Hodado]

I was going to do the same until I got quoted about $1000.00 at two different dealerships.

Local shop

I was going to do the same until I got quoted about $1000.00 at two different dealerships.

1k sounds high to me I used a local shop and it was around $400 dealers gouge

 

[HighMilesTitan]

Local shop

1k sounds high to me I used a local shop and it was around $400 dealers gouge

I also called one local shop and they quoted me a little over $700.00. He said that they only use Denso brand starters because "aftermarket starters are garbage."

I thought the OEM starter for the Titan was a Mitsubishi. Someone correct me if this is wrong.

 

[Hodado]

Being that it’s such a labor intensive fix I’d definitely go with oem my first one lasted almost 20 years not sure about the manufacturer might be different with model years