Hello all,

In the last week or so I've started to drive my vette on really nice days, today would have been one of them.

It's a '93 auto LT1 with 80k on it. I decided to back it out of the garage, the car always fires up immediately and all seemed normal so I backed out and shut it down. I swept out the bay and checked the oil.

About 30 mins later it was time for me to leave. Got in the car and proceeded to turn the key, loud click. I can only compare the noise to what you hear when you have a dying battery and there isn't enough power to crank the engine. Everything electrical in the car powered up but no joy on cranking. The battery is new.

I decided to try in neutral, same deal. Put in back in park....same. I did this several times until I noticed the security light flashing. So I opened the door, manually locked it by sliding the lock and unlocked it by the switch, closed the door.

Turned the key, and instead of just a click, I felt the car lurch ever so slightly (I think even when I tried in neutral). At this point I'm scratching my head. The car was in park when I tried the final time. Fired up like normal this try, but instead of a beautiful sound I normally hear, I heard what I can only describe as LOUD scraping comming from under the car.

So at this point I'm thinking tranny, but I popped the hood and it sounded like the motor too. I have no idea where this sound is comming from now, it's loud wherever I listen.

I'm afraid to drive it for fear of hurting it. The car idles just fine, no lights showing a problem and as far as I can tell I can drive it, just scared to.

Checked tranny fluid, and it was full, didn't smell burnt and was almost clear. Had it changed last fall.

Keeping in mind that I have limited tools in my garage and will more than likely have to drive to the stealership:

What could it be and what do I do?

Thank you

J

 

I'm not that up on automatics but look at this logically. What parts move in an automatic when the engine is running and the car is in park? Flywheel? Torque converter?

As for the engine being a possible culprit the choices multiply. Fan? starter motor? It could be any number of things. It might help if you could record the sound and post a link to it.

Others are sure to chime in so hang in there......

 

I'd jack the car up and remove the inspection cover on the front of the tranny. Check the bolts that hold the starter, and if those check out alright, then move to the TC, and the flexplate. Make sure those aren't loose or in some other way dragging. The starter selinoid (sp) could be stuck or sticking out and dragging on the flexplate/ring gear, which would make a very shrill scraping sound, resulting in significant damage to the ring gear and starter.

You might try lightly tapping on the case of the starter with a hammer, that might dislodge the selinoid (sp) and let it snap back as it should... Hard to say.

 

Can't hurt to take 30 seconds to pull any codes that might have been stored to see if that leads you anywhere.

 

Thank you all for your replies.

I took the laptop into the garage and set it on the floor next to the vette. Hit record, started it up and the noise stopped halfway through the recording. Perfect timing to be recording.

You'll hear that when the sound stopped there is a dull knock.

http://www.thebrrrgh.net/93AutoLT1.wma

The starter disengaging?

I definately will pull the codes and report the findings.

J

 

Sounds like the starter could be dragging

If it does it every time you may need to shim it a bit or if it is intermittent it could just be a sticky solenoid.

 

 

That's the best damn news I've had in a while. Again many thanks to you all!


J

 

It is from the starter motor staying engaged. If you hear it again sharply rev the motor and when flywheel speed exceeds the starter speed it will disengage. Most likely you will be replacing the starter very, very soon.

 

Agree it is starter related but before you do much else suggest you pull the inspection cover,take close look at both the starter bolts,flex plate bolts and the condition of the teeth on the flex plate.

 

A freind of mine had the same problem, It was a sticky solenoid, thats what it sounds like to me

 

And now you know what dodging a bullet feels like.................

 

I feel like Neo from The Matrix!!



J