So I was leaving school today, and I was walking by a kid with a GMC Jimmy 4.3L, and he was having severe issues. The starter would catch briefly before spinning freely. He kept doing this, and it started smoking after a particularly bad release and I had him stop before he destroyed it. It wouldn't catch for 10 minutes after that, it just spun freely. Finally it stayed engaged long enough to start it. I told him not to shut it off and to take it directly home or to a shop. It had 127k miles on it. I offered to fix it for him, since it looks like a very easy job. Is this a common problem on 4.3L v6s?
GM 4.3L starter issue
- Thread starter Nick R
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Starter drive is bad or the ring gear has teeth off it .
+1 starter drive.Personally i would stay clear of that job the ring gear could be toast if it has been doing this for a while.
Solenoid is on its way out.
Easy job, an hour or so.
Easy job, an hour or so.
Originally Posted By: rudolphna
So I was leaving school today, and I was walking by a kid with a GMC Jimmy 4.3L, and he was having severe issues. The starter would catch briefly before spinning freely. He kept doing this, and it started smoking after a particularly bad release and I had him stop before he destroyed it. It wouldn't catch for 10 minutes after that, it just spun freely. Finally it stayed engaged long enough to start it. I told him not to shut it off and to take it directly home or to a shop. It had 127k miles on it. I offered to fix it for him, since it looks like a very easy job. Is this a common problem on 4.3L v6s?
92 S10 4.3L here, with original starter. Low miles, but lots of short trips requiring restarts.
PS: Starter was pulled recently for access when I changed old rotten motor mounts, my teeth look great, FWIW.
So I was leaving school today, and I was walking by a kid with a GMC Jimmy 4.3L, and he was having severe issues. The starter would catch briefly before spinning freely. He kept doing this, and it started smoking after a particularly bad release and I had him stop before he destroyed it. It wouldn't catch for 10 minutes after that, it just spun freely. Finally it stayed engaged long enough to start it. I told him not to shut it off and to take it directly home or to a shop. It had 127k miles on it. I offered to fix it for him, since it looks like a very easy job. Is this a common problem on 4.3L v6s?
92 S10 4.3L here, with original starter. Low miles, but lots of short trips requiring restarts.
PS: Starter was pulled recently for access when I changed old rotten motor mounts, my teeth look great, FWIW.
is this a 4x4? If so it will help to have someone with little hands.Might need to take off passanger side wheel to get to neg. and pos. wires off of starter.My wife connected lock washer and nut on the positive terminal when it came time to finish job.
I suppose that's another possibility, missing teeth on the starter motor gear (or on the flywheel) but my advice stands, easy to swap out, 2 bolts and 2 (maybe 3?) wiring connections IIRC.
2 connections, and a real PIA to get too. Removal of the inner fender and wheel makes it much easier, at least for 2WD
A little PM on the charging system will help a starter live a long time. Many people do stuff like wait for their batteries to die before replacing, but it's very bad for the starter to not have a good supply of cranking power. It's obviously also bad for the teeth if engagement is intermittent because the solenoid can't do it's job either.
I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here.
A little PM on the charging system will help a starter live a long time. Many people do stuff like wait for their batteries to die before replacing, but it's very bad for the starter to not have a good supply of cranking power. It's obviously also bad for the teeth if engagement is intermittent because the solenoid can't do it's job either.
I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here.
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