Mysterious 3rd starter bolt

leftfield6 · Post by **leftfield6** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 4:29 pm

I'm dropping my transmission this weekend, or trying to, so that I can do a new clutch. I'm stuck right now on getting the starter out. I did a search and found lots of threads on this, and I understand that finding the "top" bolt is more of a "feel for it" than see it thing.

So, help me out, I'm going in from the top. If you are looking from the front of my car towards the back, where on the starter is that third bolt? Clock face direction would help a lot, is it at 11o'clock, 10 o'clock, where?

I have the two bottom ones out, the one at the very bottom (easy) and the one up tight inside the transmission tunnel.

I have all my cables disconnected from the transmission, I have the giubo unhooked, next step is the starter. Thanks in advance!!!!!

I think I'll take my starter in for a rebuild while I have it out, just so I don't have to do this again for a long time.

azruss · Post by **azruss** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 10:16 pm

top bolt should be about the 12 oclock position. these are easily removed from under the car with 13mm socket, u-joint, 12" extension, ratchet in that order. Should be a 10 min job to unbolt. getting it out once it is unbolted is the hard part

131 · Post by **131** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 3:14 am

Put the middle bolt back in and tighten it before you remove the top one. Getting the top bolt out with the weight of the starter on it makes life very difficult.

leftfield6 · Post by **leftfield6** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 5:59 pm

Actually the two underneath the car I found and removed with no drama. It's the one that is reachable from the top that I can't find.

I am looking in the right place when I say I'm looking between the starter solenoid and the engine block, right?

So, if that's where it is, I "think" I have a line of sight to it. I removed the big ole PVC rubber hose running up behind the cam box on the intake side, and ac look down from above at what looks to be part of the starter body, shaped like tab that sticks out to have a bolt go through it. I can't actually see a hole because I'm looking down on it.

Problem is, there is no bolt head. Is it possible a PO did not replace this bolt? Of course it is, I guess what I'm asking is, would the starter have worked properly and stayed in place?

Part two of that question is, if there is no third bolt in place, why won't my starter come out? I can pry it up a little from the bottom, enough to get a screwdriver blade in there to pry, but the starter is still in there.

Oh well, no time to mess with it tonight anyway. Leaving in a few minutes to go see Bruce Springsteen!!

azruss · Post by **azruss** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 9:17 pm

definitely sounds like the top bolt is still in place. try unbolting the back tranny support from the chassis and letting it drop an inch or so. This will open up the space between the top of the starter and the body so you can easily get to the top bolt from underneath.

leftfield6 · Post by **leftfield6** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:20 am

Okay, I'm not sure I've communicated well here, so let me ask some clarifying questions.

1) Are all starter bolts accessed from underneath the car?
2)Are they all going toward the front of the car, or is there one that goes from the front towards the back?
3)If all three are out, is the starter itself still somewhat difficult to get out? Is it that tight a fit?

I wonder if I've been looking in the wrong spot. I thought my searches here had indicated that there are two bolts underneath in the transmission tunnel that go through holes in the transmission bell-housing and thread into the starter, and then one bolt that is between the solenoid and the engine block, accessible from above, that goes through the starter and threads into the bell-housing. Is this right?

digitech · Post by **digitech** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:59 am

No, all bolts thread into starter from transmission side, hence lowering trans slightly to open up the space to slip the socket onto bolt head. As suggested, put the middle bolt back in and then remove the top bolt. If you can wait until the weekend, I can come help you on Sunday.

leftfield6 · Post by **leftfield6** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 8:51 am

Well, that explains it. I must have misunderstood some of the threads I researched, I was under the impression that one bolt was accessed from the engine-side.

I was driving myself nuts looking for a bolt that was not where I thought it was.

Kent124 · Post by **Kent124** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 11:33 am

There is also a small bolt that runs from a bracket above the motor mount into the end of the starter. So four bolts total. 3 large from the transmission side; one small from the engine side.

azruss · Post by **azruss** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 11:57 am

a clarification is required on kents statement. there is not a forth bolt on the other end of the starter. On later cars, there is a bracket near the top of the motormount that prevents the starter from being removed from the bell housing hole. eventho it is not connected to the starter, that bracket must be removed to get the starter out. I'm not sure what that bracket is for and i just cut mine off as it is a PITA when blocking the starter.

Kent124 · Post by **Kent124** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 1:17 pm

FWIW on my 1979, bolt through bracket and into Marelli starter.

3rd bolt is below the engine lift bracket

JDMullikin · Post by **JDMullikin** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 2:11 pm

I'm having the exact same issue and I don't see that this has really been answered. According to the manual, the bolt goes on in on the opposite end, in the opposed direction from those that are accessible from underneath and through the bell housing. It is supposed to go through a bracket that is attached to the motor mount. I took this out from the top only a few days ago (also doing a transmission replace) but for the life of me now, I can't see where or how it goes back. Please let me know it you get an answer.

Thanks!
JD

fiathead · Post by **fiathead** » Mon Oct 06, 2014 9:58 am

There are three bolts that go through the bellhousing to the starter. All three of those are removed from the back side of the bellhousing. On some cars, there is a fourth bolt that attaches to the front end of the starter or engine block. None of my Spiders had that bolt, so I don't know exactly how that one attaches. It sounds like most folks just leave that one off when reinstalling the starter.

When removing the starter, it's probably best to start with the hardest bolt first, which is the one at the 12 o'clock position. Once that is out, the others are easy. When the three bolts are removed and the wiring is disconnected, you need to work the starter nose first down and out to remove it. Turning the steering wheel can help by moving the center tie rod a bit to make a little more space.

Installation is the reverse of removal. One thing I do during installation is to preposition the top starter bolt in the hole, held in place with some very heavy grease on the shank of the bolt. I've had a film canister full of this grease ever since it was given to me by my lead mechanic when I first started working at United Airlines back in 1986. It was probably 20 years old then. I've never seen grease this thick and have only used it for holding bolts in place. It's about the consistency of very cold peanut butter, but it works like a champ at holding the top bolt in place until I can get the bottom two in. Then, it's easy to fish a socket up into that area and run the top bolt down.

Mysterious 3rd starter bolt

Mysterious 3rd starter bolt

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