Stripped Starter

**blackcar** · 10-19-2015, 06:51 PM

So my car has been making a weird noise some times when I start it. Seamed to only do it after it was warmed up. Pulled it in to the shop tonight and look underneath and this is what I found.

Tried to tighten it up and it won't tighten. Pull the bolt out and get metal shavings. The hole in the block is stripped

So I have 2 questions. What is the best way to fix it: helicoil, drill and tap for next bigger bolt, something else? BTW both sides are stripped.

2nd question is easier. I will probably go ahead and change the starter while I have it out. How do I find the starter that works with the 2 long bolts? When I look up a starter for my car it always shows the one short and one long bolt.

**blackcar** · 10-19-2015, 09:05 PM

I've been looking at www.timesert.com

***SMWS6TA*** · 10-20-2015, 05:46 AM

Helicoil or something like blackcar posted.

**blackcar** · 10-20-2015, 08:40 AM

OK so the bolts that were in the car were the wrong size bolts. They were standard, and our cars 10mx1.5. I ran the right bolt in one side and it tightened down. Did not have a short one the right size to try. Hopefully when the new starter and bolts come in this afternoon it will work. Is there anything I can put on the bolts to help, ie lock tight, etc that won't hurt the aluminum? And what torque are these bolts supposed to be tightened to?

***SMWS6TA*** · 10-20-2015, 09:00 AM

You don't want to put a thread locker on these. I just tighten down and give one good umph and call it a day.

**pajeff02** · 10-20-2015, 03:38 PM

Torque spec is 37 lb.ft. for both bolts.

**blackcar** · 10-20-2015, 05:48 PM

Thanks Jeff I'll check that.

Now to try and keep people from making the same mistake I did.

When I changed the starter about a year ago the old one had the 2 long bolts. The new one had 1 short and 1 long. I didn't know to get the "truck" starter with the 2 long bolts. Since I had 2 long bolts and needed one long and one short I went to the parts store. They had a package of 2 starter bolts, one long and one short, marked for GM cars. I didn't know it at the time but it was the wrong size. They were close enough to tighten up. But as you can see above, it worked its way out. Luckily the right bolts were able to tighten up. And luckily I didn't do more damage with a starter that was half hanging off. I could have easily broke the tab on the block it mounts to or damaged the flywheel. All in all I'm happy.

**pajeff02** · 10-21-2015, 03:28 AM

You did get lucky on this one -- would have been an absolute nightmare if it had broken the block. Glad you were able to fix it. FWIW: Sears sells a reasonably priced thread chasing kit that works well to clean up damaged threads, both SAE and metric. These are not taps though and can not be used for that purpose. Probably one of the best investments I ever made -- I use this kit all the time.

Link: Sears.com