How do you remove starter on 98 lesabre. cant find ANY helpful info I need

1998 lesabre 148,000 miles. starter clicks, No not click(s) it just goes click. amd no turn over. I have replaced starters before (not on this car) so its not that I dont know anything. Battery tested good and put in another one just to make sure, same trouble.

Problem is I cant acces what LOOK like the holding bolts. I took off the fly wheel dust cover but ther is another, I guess, dust cover around the starter and one of the bolts. I cannot for the life me see or feel anything holding that on. Well maybe but that stuff llooks pretty hard to offf and might not even need to, so have not went that way just to find I caused myself more trouble.

There is a posting I think for a 95 and several posts llinking or suggesting that thread but the link in that thread no longer works. All searches on the internet either cover some other vehicle, or say useless stuff like, disconect the wires and remove the bolts. LOL Reallly??!

So any help words pics videos would be great. tried youtube searches. would love a vid and or a pic showing where necessary stuff is.

There should have been 2-10mm head bolts holding the bottom flywheel cover on. It sounds like that is the one you removed. The other part of the cover is held on by a 10mm head bolt thas screws in horizontally into the front of the trans/engine. With the bottom splash shield removed everything should be real easy to see and allow you better access for every part of the job. Pull the centers back out of the retainers and remove the shield. If you leave the shield on you should be able to reach the bolt with a wrench, if you remove the shield a socket and extension should work easier. When the last piece of dust cover is off the 2 starter bolts will be readily accessible. Of course have the negative battery cable disconnected, remove the 2 starter wires and the 2 bolts holding it to the engine. Should be easy from there. Good luck!

Thank you. Now I at least have ONE place to focus and expect to find it. I will go look in just a few, wish I had a pic of just where it was since I loooked a lot yesterday

This is the best image I can find. They are usually in the area in red:

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e50/twabelljr/starter.gif

Ok i found the bolt. I thought racheting box wrenches were "IT" now..... I used one on that bolt and can back out the bolt only so far and then you bump into the this plate that seems to be just support for something..? it looks like a mini hood damper. I dont see what its use is.

So how important is that thing, and how important is that plastic dust cover on the starter. can i cut on either. does the one on the starter need to be replaced. I dont know if I can cut into that plate holding the damper looks pretty thick and tough for a drill bit or anything else I might have

funny how hard pics are to find. and this one does not show a dust cover

Found the right illustration: (a little late)
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e50/twabelljr/withbolt.gif
I'm not sure what you are jammed up against. I guess an open end wrench would have been the better choice huh?. Can you post a picture? I have had these frames and transaxles out out but so many different jobs daily leaves my memory blank sometimes. lol. If you hit the front engine mount can you keep wrenching until the bolt is out? It may be tight but the bolts are short.

Now that is a good pic. The only camera I have is an I phone right now. Well that should not matter, I will try it. Seems like I had truoble in the past posting pics anyway

You could cut the bolt off and get your wrench back so you can finish the job. A replacement bolt should not be hard to find. For the time being you could use one of the lower shield bolts to hold the side cover on until you find one. They are more like screws with bolt heads. Match one up at a hardware store or snag one from a salvage yard. The shields help to keep rocks and debris from getting up in your flywheel/bellhousing area. One bolt should hold the bottom shield one ok for a while at least. A tag bolt is close to the right thread pitch. Just dont force anything in obviously because a broken one is worse than a missing one!

these pics work for ya? You can see the chrome wrench handle

I have a 91 Lesabre. I know huge difference in years. But From the pics it looks exactly like mine with the exception of that "hood dampner" and the plastic cover. There are only 3 bolts that hold this starter in best of my knowlege. Two of the bolts go up into the engine block and one goes into the transmission from the starter side closest to the engine top side of starter and the whole starter will slip out. I experienced the same Click and noting. not even beating on it with hammer would make it start. But Turns out it was the Brushes if that starter is the same as mine. Which it looks very similar. That starter is HEAVY so watch out. I dont see a reason to take the plastic covers off unless they get in your way of removing starter

Be careful when doing this. You can tke the nut off the bottom of the strut that holds it to the bracket. If you have a floor jack or 2 and some jack stands you are good to go. With the nut off of the strut, support the bottom of the oil pan with a jack with a piece of 2x4 on it. Loosen the two front frame bolts and the strut bracket should lower with the frame allowing you to get the wrench out and finish removing the bolt. If you can jack the car up high enough to put a short jackstand with a piece of 2x4 or similar under the oil pan, use a floor jack to support the front of the frame. Remove the front corner frame bolts, maybe loosen the rear frame bolts a few turns and lower the frame in the front via the jack. Watch for anything that may bind. The frame shouldn't need to be lowed too much to get the access you need. If you choose to leave the frame alone you can still remove the strut nut, remove the bolts holding the engine mount to the right side body near the belt area and jack the engine up a bit. Have the jack ready before you start loosening or removing mount or frame bolts.

That helps a lot. I got the starter out just ttrrying to get my wrench back. what is that strut for. staarter vibration? dont look like it would do that. Not sure I can get the car up enough. my floor jack would not raise the car enough for me crawwl under. Had to use the tire jack from trunck. but the floor jack might get enough with the lumber raise it up enouough

The strut is to absorb the engine torque when you accelerate forward as the engine will try to jump off off the frame as it rotates backwards. Just take the strut nut off and put the jack near the front of the engine and give it a few slow pumps. You don't need to lift much at all it appears.

was not thinkin I was gonna be able to do that. was lookin at desrtoying the shield and touched the wrench and it came off. LOL but ok good.

New issue maybe you can help there also. They bench tested the starter at napa and said it was good. If they are right what is wrong? should I start a new thread?

Just an FYI tha nut at the bottom of the shaft spun with the shaft.

It may have been on a good spot in the starter motor when they tested it. That is why sometimes a starter will only click but you can hit it with a hammer or tap it with a prybar and the car will start. There are more than one set of contacts in that starter motor and if you land on a bad set you may be stuck. I do not trust those bench testers certain places use anyway. It took me 3 alternators to get a good one quite a long time ago and everyone bench tested good when I took it back. They asked me if I knew what I was doing and believe me, I had gone over everything because I couldn't believe it either. The 3rd one worked just fine. If the wires on your solenoid and batt terminals of your starter were clean and tight, it is probably bad.

No need to worry about it now if you got your wrench back and the starter out. Just finger start the bolt and use the open end of the wrench to tighten it. Sound like you got it taken care of just about.

First I got the wrench off.

I had my wife take the starter to two stores, one was napa and have some faith in them the other not sure which but not much faith in them. they often say and ask some pretty dumb stuff whille acting like they know something. So I too am thinking they hit a good spoit( I got one start before takeing it out) or they did not know what they were doing


I am tempted to put the new starter in and see but then I dont think they would take it back if starter is not the trouble.

Did it click, click, click, and then start? If the terminals are clean and the nuts holding the terminals to the solenoid were tight, and the battery is good and the cables and engine ground cable is tight then I think you are safe putting the new one on. Clean the block surface where the starter bolts because that is where the starter grounds. Just bolt the starter on and connect the wires to test it. Button it up if it is good. It should be. If for some reason it is not, make sure everything is clean, especially the box and return it.

Well got my wrench back and starter in. Still same trouble. Gonna start a new thread for where to go from here. I just have vague ideas.

Thanks for the help