Tip: Removing the starter

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lamordnt

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So my starter went out on me today. 2001 Yukon with 128k on her. Figured it was going to go soon cause it was having labored starts especially in the cold. This morning went to fire it up and I got nothing. Not even trying to crank. Checked battery connection, rocked the car, tried it in nuetral. Nothing. Finally I climbed under and banged on the starter and what do you know... she fired up.

I came on here to find out how to replace it and could not find any write ups. Maybe they are out there but I couldn't find them.

Anyways this isn't a thorough write-up but more along the lines of some tips.

First off, the starter is located on the PASSENGER side close to the front wheel. To access it climb under behind the front wheel. There are two bolts that hold the starter on and then two wires that connect to it.

MAKE SURE YOU DISCONNECT THE BATTERY.

Unscrew the two bolts holding it on. Once those are off you will notice you cannot get the starter out. Here is a tip that helped me a ton.

REMOVE THE DIPSTICK. That's right. Unbolt the oil dipstick from the engine and then just pull it straight up. This will free up enough room for you to get the starter out just enough to disconnect the wires.

From here it should be pretty straightforward. Hope this helps someone
 

JonnyTahoe

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Thanks Chris I was never able to get mine out when I tried a while back. I'll give that a try.
 

JonnyTahoe

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So my starter went out on me today. 2001 Yukon with 128k on her. Figured it was going to go soon cause it was having labored starts especially in the cold. This morning went to fire it up and I got nothing. Not even trying to crank. Checked battery connection, rocked the car, tried it in nuetral. Nothing. Finally I climbed under and banged on the starter and what do you know... she fired up.

I came on here to find out how to replace it and could not find any write ups. Maybe they are out there but I couldn't find them.

Anyways this isn't a thorough write-up but more along the lines of some tips.

First off, the starter is located on the PASSENGER side close to the front wheel. To access it climb under behind the front wheel. There are two bolts that hold the starter on and then two wires that connect to it.

MAKE SURE YOU DISCONNECT THE BATTERY.

Unscrew the two bolts holding it on. Once those are off you will notice you cannot get the starter out. Here is a tip that helped me a ton.

REMOVE THE DIPSTICK. That's right. Unbolt the oil dipstick from the engine and then just pull it straight up. This will free up enough room for you to get the starter out just enough to disconnect the wires.

From here it should be pretty straightforward. Hope this helps someone
I replaced my starter in the fall after only one time at the store that it almost did not turn over and start. As you know they don't turn over much at all they just start up. Turns out it was my Battery but I justify it as Preventive Maintenance. Yes the Oil Dipstick Tube has to be removed to remove the starter, good luck getting it back into the oil pan by yourself I needed help up top from another person.
 
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JonnyTahoe

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then hope it doesn't leak like mine did afterwards....
I was worried about that happening as well and was surprised it didn't. There is a tiny O-Ring near the bottom of the tube but your not going to have one that small ''In Stock'' and your ready to try your new starter out so you just put the tube back in and hope for the best. The tube seems to fit somewhat loose and your thinking this is going to leak for sure but if your careful putting it back in it should be ok mine was.
 
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treehan77

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wow i wish i'd have tried this. i was able to take mine out and put it back in when i was making sure my cps wasn't leaking oil - but it was a game of tetris and i didn't even disconnect the wires. super frustrating, hopefully i'll remember this next time.
 

Larryjb

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I've now replaced my starter 2 times (new replacement was faulty). Here's what I do, in case it helps some one in the future:

1) Jack up PS of vehicle, support on jackstand.
2) Remove FR wheel, inner fender cover (about a dozen push pins, and two electrical loom holders). (easy to do, and really helps)
3) Disconnect battery (10 mm)
4) Remove oil dipstick (14 mm, easy to do, especially with inner fender removed)
5) Remove oil level switch connector (not switch, just connector). This can be tricky, but if you use a jeweler's small screwdriver, find the locking tab and lift up on it while pulling back on the connector, it should come out. Anything larger than a jeweler's screwdriver and you may be lying there for 1/2 hour or more trying and swearing at it to get it to come out. (easy, when you figure it out. Jewler's screwdriver is a big hint).
6) Remove bolt for tranny plastic shield (10 mm)
7) Two bolts for starter (13 mm). Wiggle and push starter forwards until the plastic shield falls to the ground, then wriggle the starter down towards the ground.
8) The factory service manual says to back out but not remove the axle frame bolt just below the starter. This is so that the starter can rest on the bolt while you remove the electrical connectors from the starter. You could use a jack stand in place of backing out that bolt. I wouldn't recommend touching that bolt unless you know what you are doing.
9) Remove heat shield from solenoid.
10) From the side, remove the main battery lead (13 mm), and the trigger wire (8 mm). (If you cant get your wrench in for the 8 mm, this wire is longer and you can lower the starter and remove this from underneath the truck instead.)
11) Remove starter motor.

Installation is the reverse.

It seems like a lot of steps, but I was just being quite detailed in what has worked for me so far.

Also, it may have been my bad luck, but my ACDelco Professional brand starter quit after one week.
 

CountryBoy19

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If you think you have a bad starter, don't forget to check cables... I once had a "bad starter". Checked the nuts holding the cable & wire to the starter but didn't check the actual cables. Turns out, it was a cable corroded inside a terminal. Didn't find that out until I put the new starter on and still had same problem. DOH!!! Soldered new terminal onto end of cable and it has worked great since then.
 

Larryjb

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I had already checked the main battery cables. At 250000 km, if I'm going to remove the starter to check the terminals, I'm going to replace the starter. It turns out that my brush assembly was so worn I'm actually surprised that the starter was working at all. Performance Inc sells rebuild kits for a fraction of the price of a new or rebuilt one: http://alternatorstarterrebuildkits.com/product/pg260f2/

Be prepared to not have your vehicle for a day or two. Once I started to reassemble the starter, my original backplate-to-brush-assembly (8 mm hex bolts) were too narrow to fit into the new brush assembly. I found some new bolts that would fit, but had to drill the back plate holes a little larger to accommodate the new bolts. I also discovered I needed a set of deep E-torx sockets (E5).

In the video (in a link above), he says to align the motor terminal of the solenoid towards the starter motor. On my Tahoe (I assume the others are similar), the motor terminal must be to the right, so that the trigger terminal is up.

If I knew what I was doing, the rebuild would have taken about half an hour. It took me a couple of hours, but I know the commutator is good and clean, I have a new bendix, new solenoid everything was cleaned inside, including the planetary gear set. My experience with buying reman stuff is that some things are not cleaned or replaced causing a premature failure. If anything fails on this starter motor, I only have my self to blame now. I only spent $35USD + shipping, and it is likely a better rebuild than buying a reman unit.
 

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