79 Caprice Classic Starter Problem - Help!

My brother has a 79 Caprice. The initial problem began with it 'sometimes' not starting - so he replaced the starter. After one week, the same thing happened. It makes a sound of "many cans dragging on the pavement" and then after several attempts to get it starter (of course the loud sound continues each time) it finally starts. He has now replaced 3 starters! What is the problem? Please help!

Did you/he check the starter shimming? If it is too tight against the flexplate the starter won't last long..and if too far away it will grind up the starter gear and the flexplate.

Did you/he check the starter shimming? If it is too tight against the flexplate the starter won't last long..and if too far away it will gring up the starter gear and the flexplate.

Thanks, I will pass this on to him and hopefully we can check on that!

I will keep you posted!

Did you/he check the starter shimming? If it is too tight against the flexplate the starter won't last long..and if too far away it will grind up the starter gear and the flexplate.


According to my brother - it doesn't have a shimming. What do you think?

According to my brother - it doesn't have a shimming. What do you think?
The old starter may not have had any but the new one may need shims.

Rotate the flexplate 360 deg. Check ALL the teeth.
You may have one, or several bad spots (teeth missing, or ground down).

Jim S

if you do have groound down or broken teeth on the flexplate you have a lot of work to replace it

According to my brother - it doesn't have a shimming. What do you think?
These guys are right.
Even if the old starter didn't need a shim or shims, the new one very likely does. That's based on the sounds that you're reporting
-that's what improper shimming sounds like.
You (or your brother) can go down to the parts house and ask for a few. They don't cost all that much. What you do is try a medium thickness shim first, then either add another (thinner) one or replace the medium thickness one with a thin one. Keep working on it until the starter sounds normal again.