993 starter problems?

[discovery2]

My new (to me) 993 seems to have a starter problem, sometimes when its cold the starter doesn't seem to engage.

Most of the time when I go to start it up, the car fires right up. As of late, once in awhile I will go to start it and I get a spinning whirl sound as if the the starter is spinning but not engaging the motor. During these attempts, the motor is not turning over.

Generally, if I give it a second and try it again the motor will start, the starter was replaced by the PO in 04 some 25k miles ago. Thoughts?

Also, what is the replacment timetable for NOS replacment parts from Porsche? Here is a shot of a starter on ebay for the 993, is this what I want?

[Don Plumley]

31 views and no responses, so I'll toss a guess or two out.

The sound you are describing is due to a failed/failing solenoid. Worth checking grounds and connections.

Starters should last a fairly long time. But with a high compression motor you need serious battery power. What kind of battery do you have and how old is it?

[aigel]

Sounds like the throwout gear is sticking, most likely. That means it is never tossed towards the flywheel far enough to engage and hence just whirls in the air. That gear is part of the starter but you may be able to get it unstuck / lubed back like on this bimmer starter which is similar to the 911 starter: http://www.bmwrt.com/faq/docs/starter.pdf

That said, there is another, very painful reason, that this could happen. The flywheel may have worn along with the throwout gear and if it has a few teeth missing, there are a few positions in which there is no good engagement. That will warrant a new flywheel ring gear and a trans / engine drop to get to it. The flywheel can get there if you have a sticking throwout gear that engages poorly and slowly wears out the teeth. Often people change the starter (one half of the teeth now is fresh) but forget to check the flywheel!

Hope this helps!

George