Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) Starter failure

[Joe G.]

I thought you would like to know about a strange starter failure. Today the guy doing the work on the property next door to get it ready for building a house had a problem so that his ‘97 would not start. I've known him since he was a little kid so I told him that we could put it in my garage and we could take a look at the starter. We did that and pulled the starter. Lo and behold The drive gear was missing. I looked in the hole in the bell housing with a mirror and there was the gear jammed between the ring gear and the transmission case. Stuck solid. I could not turn the engine with a barring tool or a pry bar in the ring gear. When I pulled the little pan off the below the torque convertor I found a bunch of little parts. We decided that the only way to get the gear out was to pull the transmission. We could not do it the normal way because we could not turn the engine so we pulled it without removing the torque convertor. When the transmission came out the gear fell on the floor. All of the parts looked good except the little wire clip that goes on the nose of the starter shaft. Looks like it might cost about ten cents. All the other parts are there we think. Not sure. The truck owner is taking the starter to a shop tomorrow to see if it is salvageable. Other than blowing away an afternoon it didn't do any damage. Something else to worry about.