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Re: Starter for 99 Saturn SW1 wagon
If you have the car jacked up high enough to slide under the front of it safely, keep sliding toward the back of the car until your shoulders are about betweem the middle of the two front wheels.
(By the way, you dont get EVER under a car that is only supported by the jack used to change tires. NEVER! You could run it onto a pair of the ramps sold in auto parts stores, and if the car isnt operating you can jack it up little by little and put heavy wooden blocks under the sides of the car, about where the front doors attach to the body. I use 2' lenths of 6" by 6" and 4" by 4" timber, and make a pyramind of it, strong enough to outlast the pyraminds at Giza. Then I will slide under a car.)
I like to put a piece of a large cardboard box down to slide on, as my driveway is gravel.
If you see the longer of the two axle shafts that run from the transmission out to the front wheels - the starter is located above the longer shaft, and tucked in close to the engine block. It would be several inches above the bottom of the motor. Expect plenty of greasy black dirt. You will likely need a light to see up there. I have a cylindrical flashlight small enough that I can hold it in my teeth. You will probably have to undo a plastic shield that currves around the starter (like my 92 SL2 has). Then there will be two nuts to undo on the solenoid mounted atop the starter, to get the 3 electric wires loose. Then two bolts holding the starter to the motor have to be undone. The upper bolt is just like the lower bolt, but located at the 12 o'clock position, with the lower bolt being at the 6 o'clock position. I think a 6" extension at the end of a deep socket might be the correct length. It is possible to do this; really! But working under there is not "mechanics 101". Its closer to the graduate mechanic level!
I have a 12" piece of steel conduit pipe that I slide over the end of my 3/8" ratchet wrench for added leverage. The mounting bolts for the starter may be super tight - if they havent been loosened since the car was made. And maybe Im getting feeble - being in my 60s.
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