Replaced clutch, now rattling noise from starter??

I just had my clutch replaced, flywheel was resurfaced. Now when I start it up there's this rattling clacking noise coming from around my starter.

Guy at the shop that did the clutch said it was something in the starter "banging back and forth" and "not disengaging" after it starts up, recommended a new starter. However I put this starter on myself not that long ago and it wasn't making any noise at all until the clutch replacement was done.

It starts up just fine, so I have to think it's something they didn't put back together correctly. (This is why I prefer to do my work myself, at least then if it is screwed up I have no one else to blame, but I dont have the tools to do a clutch)

Anybody got any ideas?

Since you already know how to swap a starter, I think your best bet is to remove it, inspect everything, then reinstall it. Then go from there.

Flywheel probably bumping it, loose flywheel bolt probably

You can drop the starter and check the plunger mechanism yourself while a helper turns the key. Push the gear with your hand to see if its not retracting fully. (ps--you'll need to ground it to something)

Have you gotten down and looked at it closely? Since they presumably had the starter out to do the clutch, I'd check to make sure they used the right bolts and didn't cross any threads.

I will get down there and look at it tomorrow, pull off the starter an such. I picked it up from the shop after work today and now its raining so I haven't had a chance to look at anything yet. except a computer screen lol.

Doing a buncha searching I found two things -
- first that there's two different length of bolts for the starter and its easy to mix them up (thus causing misalignment and banging),
- and second that there's supposedly some kind of access panel you can open to see the flywheel but you can also go thru to tighten the bolts...

are these accurate for a '98 with an AX-15? If so, which bolt(s) is supposed to be the longer one? and will this access panel be obvious once I'm under there?

ehall, where (and what) is the plunger mechanism? when I put on the starter I just bolted it up and it worked, so I didn't spend much time looking at the parts down there.

The starter gear that turns the flywheel, it pushes out when you turn the key, and then retracts back into resting position when you let off. Make sure its retracting fully.

ehall said:

The starter gear that turns the flywheel, it pushes out when you turn the key, and then retracts back into resting position when you let off. Make sure its retracting fully.

Click to expand...

Dang I did not know it did that! What would it mean if it isn't retracting enough?

Several possibilities, generally summed up as "bad starter"

Might not be the problem though, you need to check

Dam rain. Haven't been able to get out there yet.

ehall, not thinking it's bad starter cos its pretty new and was working fine until the clutch job. How am I going to be able to see if it's retracting? I assume it is supposed to be retracted when the car is off? (how does a fully retracted one look?)

anybody can tell me about the bolt lengths vs locations?

Just press on the gear with your finger, if it goes in then its not fully retracting. "Guy at the shop that did the clutch said it was something in the starter "banging back and forth" and "not disengaging" after it starts up, recommended a new starter." This is how you test it.

So it finally stopped raining. I pulled off the starter.

The gear thing in the middle inside will wiggle back and forth about 1/8 inch IF I point it toward the ground. If I hold it slightly tilted upward, it won't move at all. It looks to be protruding from the plane of the casing face about 1/4 inch? the front edges of the teeth look slightly beveled, is this normal? or is it getting chewed by the flywheel?

Also something that surprised me, I did not recall this from when I put the new starter on before: the top bolt was a 9/16" and quite long, but the bottom bolt was a 15mm and comparatively much shorter? Is this correct? Also I didn't see any shims even though my manual said there should be one...

ETA: I am an idiot. It is wiggling back and forth no matter the angle, my fingers were just too slippery with oil to force it upward if it was resting at the "bottom" of its travel when pointing upward.

Pics in a few.

Here's a pic, you can kinda see the beveling I'm talking about.

So now I am completely confused. A couple of YouTube videos and writeups all say the top should be a 15? but other threads say:

"Top Bolt is M10-1.5 x 28mm
Bottom Bolt is 3/8-16 x 1 3/4"

"Upper bolt is a 7/16 x 1 1/4"

What is correct, and did the guy mix up my bolts? WHich one is supposed to be the longer one? Top or bottom? (really confused now)

if it was wear it would be shiny, which I don't see in your pic

Just got back from Auto Zone, they bench tested it and it tests as perfectly good.

Now if I can figure out which bolt goes where, I can put it back and see if the noise still happens.

If it IS still happening, if I'm understanding correctly, it's either needing shims or has loose flywheel bolts. Right?

Ok so I found this: http://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/jeep-4-0-starter-bolts-187635/
so I think the bolts were actually in the right place... so can anybody tell me about shims? Where would they go and what would they look like?

I can put the starter back in tonight but I don't have enough light in my driveway to get into the flywheel until daylight.

Put starter back in. Bolts were correct the first time. Noise is still happening.

Can anyone tell me about shims?

No shims in this setup. GM starters that bolt on in a different way use shims to set the mesh with the flywheel, but these do not. Mesh is not variable.

If the starter itself is correct, all I can suggest is that you make sure you get it bolted all the way in, snugly seated in its hole. Manhandle it mightily to make sure it's not in any way loose, and that a wrong bolt has not bottomed out before getting it on tight.

It's been a while since I did this, but I've had many of these starters in and out, and all 4.0 starters were the same. As I recall one bolt was larger than the other, and they really could not be mixed up, as one threads into the starter body from behind, and the other into the flywheel housing from forward. But it's possible if someone lost the correct bolt that they got a wrong one, or perhaps a wrong length. There is also a flywheel housing bolt right next to the top starter bolt, and it's easy to mix them up in the dark. Make sure someone did not lose or loosen that one by mistake.

Get a stethoscope (or a piece of hose you can put to your ear) and probe for the noise to see if you can be sure it's coming from the starter or elsewhere.

Turns out it was the starter. It tested in a bench tester as OK because it did activate and kick the gear properly for startup, but after startup the small center gear that is supposed to retract was not staying retracted. We traded out the starter (after some discussion with the parts store guys about what constitutes "good") and all is now humming along nicely.

And for anyone who finds this thread later, the bolts are in fact 2 different sizes. The front stubby bolt definitely takes 15mm socket head, and the rear longer one took a 9/16 socket but now I am wondering if maybe it was really a 14mm just with a bunch of crud on it (9/16 being only a tiny bit bigger).