Completely lost...No idea what could be wrong with my 99 GT

RedHot35thGT

New Member
Jul 15, 2006
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First of all, thanks in advance for any possible help...I'm completely lost at this point.

My 99 GT is just over 100k. I got it at about 60k almost 5 years ago and its been great...no real problems ever, just routine stuff like brakes/tune up/radiator flushes. I even took it cross country and back last year.

Anyway, this past Saturday the car started having some trouble. When I would start it up, right after the growl...like when I would be turning the ignition back to the on position...I started hearing a loud scratching sound. It would only last 1-2 seconds and then everything would be back to normal. Nothing out of the ordinary when driving...this was just on start up. It did that a couple of more times when I ran some errands on Saturday. On Sunday morning, it was even louder and lasted a LITTLE longer when I started it...but then it went back to normal. Sunday night, when I started it the sound was a LOT louder and would not go away. It was a really loud scratching/groaning...anyone in my apartment complex heard it loud and clear. I turned the engine off but the noise kept going for about another 10-15 seconds until it finally died. I tried starting the car again a few hours later and the same thing happened...it seemed like it might have been coming from the passenger side (not sure though) and when I turned the engine off it it kept running for another 10 seconds or so. After I turned the engine off (while the noise was still going on) it felt like there was something bumping or thumping under the hood and under the car.

I didn't drive/start the car on Monday. Today I had the car towed to a shop. They called me a little while ago to say that the car wasn't making any noise when they started it. It was "running like a top". They said something smelled a tad off in the exhaust and they had checked the catalytic converter and everything was fine. The mechanic seemed to think I may have just had some bad fuel. He said the exhaust was fine. He said they would keep it overnight and see if it does anything in the morning.

I'm completely lost here...this wasn't some minor noise and it doesn't seem like it would be something caused by gasoline (I use unleaded btw). It sounded horrible. I'm going to be taking a 3-4 hour trip this weekend and don't want any car trouble while I'm out of town..

Does anyone have ANY idea what this could be? I did search the forums extensively on Sunday and it seemed like people who had (kind of) similar issues mentioned the spark plugs..but those people never had any noises that got worse like mine did...they just had the little scratching sound.

Again, I really appreciate any insight. I'm supposed to call the mechanic tomorrow morning to see what's going on.

Thanks!
 
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ok, I think I understand the problem correctly but.... has it ever been running fine/quiet & then start making the noise while the motor was already running without touching the ignition switch?
sounds like the Starter is going out & is getting stuck in the "start" position up against the flywheel & therefore is getting spun really,really fast by the crank when the motor is running & is therefore very noisy...
sounds like you need a new starter to me.....
 
thanks for the quick replies fellas. to answer the question, no...i have never had a problem once the car is running. only time it has had issues is when it is starting up. just started on saturday, then really flared up on sunday.

one thing i did notice (don't know if it makes a difference) is that while i was running errands on saturday night, it wasn't until i was leaving the last store (after i had already started my car several times in the past hour) that there was no noise at all. i was thinking that the car being warmed up had something to do with it...would that affect the starter at all?

thanks again..
 
yep, the heat will definently get to it.....if your mechanic drives get the car good & warmed up & then restarts it a few times I bet it will do it for him... sounds like if you replace the starter the problem will be solved.
 
oh, ok...that's interesting. it was actually once the car was warmed up (saturday night) that it finally STOPPED making the scratching sound at start-up.

would it also likely be a bad starter that would cause the sound to keep going even for 10-15 seconds after the engine is off? and lastly...should i ask them to check the flywheel too? from some quick research i'm worried that could be the problem too.

and really, thanks again..
 
actually, just had another thought...if the mechanic looks at the starter, is that something where he can easily tell if its bad? i'd prefer not to replace something that doesn't need it...or worse yet replace something that's not even causing the problem..
 
the noise that keeps going for 10-15sec after starting is what I was talking about...& yeah,while they are under there, they should look at the teeth on the flywheel to make sure they are good. just don't let them tell you the flywheel is bad & allow them to replace it until they Show You what is bad....cause that would get exspensive quick.... hopefully you have a honest/reputable mechanic.
earlier this year I took my company truck to Pepboys to have new tires & an alignment done over the weekend, I told them I was going out of town & would be picking the truck up on Mon morning..... they called me on Sat & said that the brakes were nearly "Metal to Metal" & really needed to be replaced. I said, "not right now",lets just do the tires & I'll bring it back in later for the brakes..... I never planned on taking it back to them as I am a mechanic & do just about everything myself.....
I bought new pads that same week & when I went to replace them......the old pads were in Perfect condition & still had at least 1/2 their life left in them....... the reason I bring this up is just as a warning...Pepboys flat-out LIED to me, & tried to sell me a brake job for about $600....so FYI....just be aware & make them show you the bad part whlie it is on your car before you pay them to fix it.... sorry for the long post but......
 
actually, just had another thought...if the mechanic looks at the starter, is that something where he can easily tell if its bad? i'd prefer not to replace something that doesn't need it...or worse yet replace something that's not even causing the problem..

honestly, I would have to hear it myself to know for sure but from what you are describing, it sure sounds like the starter to me. they should be able to put it on a machine to check it.
are you not able to replace it yourself? they are fairly easy to do with normal hand tools. if you were anywhere near me I would swap it out for you for free. It has been many,many years since I took any car to a mechanic for anything other then tires & alignments....but then again....I was practically born a mechanic.:D it's not what I do for a living, but I could if I wanted too.
 
well, i probably could do it myself...i've done some easier stuff for my car, but i guess i was spoiled these past few years...my mechanic was a good friend of the family so i never had to worry about getting overcharged/having poor quality work done. i just moved last year, so this is a new place that i've taken the stang...but they're good friends with my boss and he put in a good word for me.

i'll probably give them a call early in the morning (they had told me to call mid-morning) and ask them to take a look at the starter/flywheel. hopefully i don't seem like too much of a PITA know it all to them...but if there's one thing that drives me crazy it's knowing there's something wrong with my car.

thanks again for the help.
 
My vote starter.

Personally, because it can be a PIA to remove the starter, I would be unlikely to test and re-install.

Note, now that I have done a few of them, they really don't take that long to do. The trick is accessing the top 13mm starter bolt. Use two very long extensions through the K-member. A flex socket helps alot.
 
Thats why I love this place, you live and you learn. You might wanna find someone w/a lift for this one. Had a couple of times the car could have fell on me. Question: He said the the sound kept 10-15 seconds after the engine was turned off; does the starter spin that freely, one would imagine that the brushes are tightly packed in there for ultamite conductivty of an electromagnetic field, so what I am asking is, if the brushes are that worn, wouldn't he have problems starting the engine?:shrug:
 
Thats why I love this place, you live and you learn. You might wanna find someone w/a lift for this one. Had a couple of times the car could have fell on me. Question: He said the the sound kept 10-15 seconds after the engine was turned off; does the starter spin that freely, one would imagine that the brushes are tightly packed in there for ultamite conductivty of an electromagnetic field, so what I am asking is, if the brushes are that worn, wouldn't he have problems starting the engine?:shrug:

I missed the part about it still making noise after shutting if off....I thought he meant after like letting off the ign switch. either way, sounds like the starter to me. don't know what else that could be making that kind of noise upon startup. &@ 100k mi. it seems likely that it could be going bad you got me on the brushes part. IDK, I have heard them keep spinning before though. they do keep spinning fo a while normally but now I'm confused...:shrug:
but yeah, if the brushes were that bad it would have problems starting I would think.. I wish you had stayed out of this (trombonedemon)......now my brain hurts..:(:rlaugh::D
 
What if the solenoid is not disengaging the starter gear from the flywheel? The starter would continue to spin. I am sure at a high rate of speed due to the difference in gear ratios.

Yea, I remember you saying something about a starter that dosn't disengage in a past post. The problem was more than interesting. So what would disengage the starter after crankup? Is it possible that the ignition swithc is still trying to crank after startup, thus the problem would be the ignition switch? If the pinion remains engaged (as for example because the operator fails to release the key as soon as the engine starts), the pinion will spin independently of its driveshaft.
Gotta love brainstorming when theres multiple brains!!
 
very interesting stuff guys. i'm gonna call the shop first thing in the morning and ask them to check the starter...hopefully they actually do take it out and see what's wrong. i'll let you know how it goes...and thanks again :nice:
 
Well, I got the pony back today and everything should now be fixed :nice:

Turns out it was indeed the starter...the mechanic said the solenoid was stuck and that was the problem. I called them first thing this morning to tell them to look at the starter...good thing I did. They said they had to start it like 3 or 4 times until it started acting up and I guess that's when they finally took the starter out and saw the problem.

Anyway, they charged a total of $284. $179 for the starter (which seemed a little high from what I've seen...most starters seemed to be closer to $100) and $90 for an hour and a half labor. The rest was tax. From what I've seen online, $284 seems alright for a new starter + labor...I probably could have done the install myself, but I have a trip planned this weekend and I needed to get it fixed today.

Once again, a big THANK YOU to everyone that posted in this thread...it was a huge help. :flag: