its the solenoid in the starter. Similar situation happened to me. I started the car (clutch switch disabled) while it was in gear. The car jolted forward and then wouldnt start. There was a loud click.

After replacing the starter, all was normal again. It's not the expensive at discount, and a very easy job.

 

Maybe, because it was in forth gear, and not first, the extra strain on the starter to turn over the engine, and move the weight of the car with the higher gearing of forth gear killed the starter, or at least blew the fuse. just a theory.

 

+1

that is what it is

 

alright...i thought the same thing too, about 4th gear and too much strain, plus the parking brake was up. I'm gonna get a new starter from advanced, comes with lifetime warranty. plus, sunday night i ordered a haynes manual from autozone lol. looks like its gonna come in handy.

how far up under the intake manifold is the starter? 1998 gst, fwd, 7bolt

thank you guys for all the help. rep to all...

 

If you look on Vfaq there should be a guide. But pretty much the install is like 2-3 bolts and a harness. It was easiest from the bottom tbh, because theres so much shit like right in the way.

PS: Be prepared to get your hands sludged the fuck out.

 

yea its kinda tricky to get to the bolts, but your gonna have to take out your battery and some ic piping and you should be able to see it, its right behind the block near the top, just look for a big hump on your bellhousing

 

yea thats what im talkin about
not sure if you can buy just the solenoid you might have to get the whole starter

 

alright just bought a new starter from advanced. im going to install it this weekend. friday i get a holiday bonus check and i was thinking of buying a digital camera. should i make a DIY or something? lol

 

ok...life officially sucks and is totally unfair

car - 100034272
me - 0

i just replaced the starter. the one i bought from advanced worked fine, they tested it and it was alright. I put this new one in, put everything back together, and of course reconnected the battery. tried to start it, nothing. nada. wont start. just a click. i cant even hear it spin or anything. it does push start, though.

one thing about before, after i burned out the starter or whatever, sitting in the car when i would turn the key, I could only hear one loud click. but if i tried the remote start, me still sitting in the car, it wuld click, AND i would hear a loud buuzzzzz sound, about one second long. it wouldnt crank at all either way. only if my dad tried the key and i stood over the engine and listened, i could hear the buzz. now, i havnt listened from the engine, but after the new starter, from inside the car all i hear is the loud click either by key or remote start, i dont hear a buzz at all, although my dad said he slightely heard it from the engine. does that mean anything?

one thing i want to know is....is it hard have to line up everything when putting the starter on? If the starter is bolted on flush to the bell housing part, does that mean everything is all lined up fine? i had a rough time tightening the top bolt, but after several turns it finally got tight and the starter was flush. how possible is it that it broke the gear on the starter or something, or wedged it from moving?? after i push started it, it ran fine, except for a horrible tuning issue, which i think is because i knocked a vaccuum hose loose.also, after turning it off, it wouldnt start again. so i think that would have fixed the "starter gear being wedged" issue.

what fuse could be blown? is that a possibility? where is this fuse located? Ive looked in the fuse box under the dash (is there only 1?) and the fuse box right above the air filter. i see nothing related to starter.

From the very small portion of flywheel that i could see, nothing looked chipped or broken. nothing on the old starter looked broken either. wtf is going on with this car??? why wont it start? please help!!