Trouble Starting

I have a 97 Chevy Z71 1/2 ton extended cab 4x4 approximately 162K on it. Anyway, about a year ago I noticed that I was leaking transmission fluid. What happened was that my pan got a little loose and slowly leaked out fluid. Anyway, fixed that problem. However around the same time I started to have trouble starting the truck. I would turn the key and it would sort of grind a little bit. Then I would let go and turn again and it would start. However, it could be totally unrelated.

Then came winter and I had no problems at all starting the truck.

Summer came again and I have had the same problem. Sometimes it starts up sometime, it takes a few turn. What it sounds like is there is something spinning around. After a couple of tries it ends up starting. I have no idea what this is. It has never not started, but I don't want to get caught where it actually finally falters.

Anyway, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Rob

From your discription it sounds like your starter drive is going bad.

Maybe a bad starter !Does it start hard on hot restarts?Maybe heat soak.A rebuild will cost less than a tow for sure!Good luck!

Today I left the car sitting for a few hours. I came outside and it took 3 times to start it up. Once it started up, if I am turn it off and then turn it right back on it works fine. Still not sure what it is. I did check and there were no codes that came back for it.

From your description it sounds like the starter isnt engaging properly, I had a 92 C1500 w/the 4.3 V6 that did the same thing. It was from the freeze plug right above it leaking into it. I would pull the starter and have it checked.