Whine Sound while trying to Start Engine

Charlie Mike

Charlie Mike

New member
This past weekend, I drove to the post office to drop off some mail. Probably took less than 3 minutes to drop off my mail and get back in my Jeep. Put the key in the ignition and turned it to start my Jeep, then I heard high pitched whine sound. It sounded like the engine wasn't turning over. I stopped, gave it a few seconds, and tried again. Same thing happened. Waited a little longer this time and tried once more. Same thing. I'm no mechanic, but I opened the hood anyways trying to look for something obvious. Everything looked OK. Every connection or wire harness I saw, I gave a little wiggle and made sure everything wasn't loose. (I doubt I did anything to actually fix it). Closed the hood and waited a few minutes this time. I turned the key, and there was half a second where it sounded like the engine was trying to turn over and then bingo, the engine started.

Any ideas? Something I can try to prevent this? Some preventative maintenance? I hate thinking "Oh Well. It started now, must be good."
Thanks! :beer:

Edit:
I have about 65,000 Miles on my Jeep JK.
 
Charlie Mike said:
This past weekend, I drove to the post office to drop off some mail. Probably took less than 3 minutes to drop off my mail and get back in my Jeep. Put the key in the ignition and turned it to start my Jeep, then I heard high pitched whine sound. It sounded like the engine wasn't turning over. I stopped, gave it a few seconds, and tried again. Same thing happened. Waited a little longer this time and tried once more. Same thing. I'm no mechanic, but I opened the hood anyways trying to look for something obvious. Everything looked OK. Every connection or wire harness I saw, I gave a little wiggle and made sure everything wasn't loose. (I doubt I did anything to actually fix it). Closed the hood and waited a few minutes this time. I turned the key, and there was half a second where it sounded like the engine was trying to turn over and then bingo, the engine started.

Any ideas? Something I can try to prevent this? Some preventative maintenance? I hate thinking "Oh Well. It started now, must be good."
Thanks! :beer:

Edit:
I have about 65,000 Miles on my Jeep JK.
Click to expand...

sounds like the starter teeth did not engage the flywheel teeth correctly... you can have a few different problems, but a new starter will be in your future
The starter bolts may just be loose

The starter may just be wearing down to the point its about to go out completely

The flywheel bolts may be working loose; but this is unlikely.

You may not hear that noise again for a while or it may get rapidly worse depending on your exact issue, but know one thing for sure, every time you hear it, you are grinding more metal off your flywheel.
 
Last edited:
Starter solenoid is taking a dump, if you don't wanna replace it carry a hammer with you and hit it when it does the "whine" sound. Don't smack the shit out of it your youll break the magnets inside. Then your SOL

It's time for a new starter, cheap and easy to replace.
 
I guess I need a new starter. lol. Thanks everyone!

So my next question is what brand should I buy? Or should I get mine remanufactured through Autozone? Pros and Cons?
 
HDGasser said:
if you don't wanna replace it carry a hammer with you and hit it when it does the "whine" sound. Don't smack the shit out of it your youll break the magnets inside. Then your SOL
Click to expand...

did this in my old Geo Prizm i had. starter was going and i could only get 5-10 starts out of it at a time before i had to pull my hammer out and give it few love taps. this allowed the magnets to unstick themselfs and reengage
 
HDGasser said:
Starter solenoid is taking a dump, if you don't wanna replace it carry a hammer with you and hit it when it does the "whine" sound. Don't smack the shit out of it your youll break the magnets inside. Then your SOL

It's time for a new starter, cheap and easy to replace.
Click to expand...

Charlie Mike said:
I guess I need a new starter. lol. Thanks everyone!

So my next question is what brand should I buy? Or should I get mine remanufactured through Autozone? Pros and Cons?
Click to expand...


honestly i would just go buy a cheap generic one. they are like 30 bucks and will last a while. we use to do that for our old boat beacuse the "marine" starters were over 100$. the generic one lasted us 2-3 seasons so i can imagin it will last a lot longer in your jeep with no salt water eating it away
 
Old starter removed.

image-2147330677.jpg

Teeth on the flywheel look good.

image-753037474.jpg

New starter installed. Relatively cheap and easy to install. It's like night and day.

image-3534696818.jpg
 
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