Camry Starting Problems

[aidan]

1987 Camry 2.1 estate auto.

Once in about every 50 starts, the starter motor will not turn the engine there is a screeching sound that seems as though it is not engaging the engine. If I put the car in drive and rock it, the engine will then start. I have taken starter motor out and cleaned and re-greased it, and all the teeth look good. This leads me to assume that it could be some teeth on the flywheel ring that are damaged.

Is this a fair assumption? If so, is it a big job to replace (sounds like it woudl be!). Otherwise, car is great, so it would seem a shame to scrap it for this.

All comments welcome!

[TheNissanMan]

Replaceing the flywheel would be a big job as you'ld have require access to the gearbox which means you'ld need to take the bell-housing off.