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Posted by john
on 9/11/2009, 8:12 pm, in reply to "Re: I swear, I'm going to drive the damn thing off a cliff."
71.199.16.246
Okay, first of all, it may not help, but I admire your tenacity, and willingness to do whatever you have to do to make the bills, best as you can. That is an attitude that is sorely lacking in our society anymore, so for what its worth, you have my respect. I wish I could come over and help you out, but like so many others, too many miles....
This should make others jump in and correct me if I am wrong, :-) but if it is the teeth or part of them from the starter, they did not go into your transmission, and there is an inspection place in the front of the trans that if you take it off, the broken pieces may well be be right there to take out with a finger, screwdriver, or maybe one of those magnet tools.
Since you roll started it, I am figuring 4spd. The noise you are hearing could be those pieces flying around getting pummeled by the flywheel. Sounds awful, not that big a deal in most cases. Four screws to get the inspection plate off, and see what you might see.
Don't know how bad the coolant leak is, but if you have to drive it, consider twisting the radiator cap halfway to keep the system from building the usual pressure. If its 100 degrees outside, don't do it, but cooler days, short trips, and cool nights you can get by without the system under pressure, so you may get further, and could lessen the leak. Just a maybe, hard to say from here.
The only thing I can relate to is on other cars I have owned, if I don't get the bolts to the torque converted tight enough, they fall off, and clang around inside, making the devil's own sound, and I have to open the cover and get em back on. If there are parts from your starter's teeth flying around, it can sure sound like inside the engine, but its not.
Don't know if any of that helps, but I just feel badly that you cannot get ahead of the curve, and enjoy the car a little more. Let us know what you find out.
You good with taking the starter out? Rick had explained his easy method, and I have changed quite a few differently, but still without too much work, so as impossible as that job looks, its not how it appears.
John