Flywheel and starter problem?

[graycamry1999]

Hello,
I need serious help. First of all, I don't know anything about cars.
I have a 99camry, 51K. I have been taking it since we bought it in Feb 2002 to the toyota dealer for regular maintenance, flushing, water pump replacement, front and rear brakes replacements, timing belts....
We never had any trouble with it (besides the regular wear and tear)
Last October, it started having very random starting problems. It would happen any time of the day, even when it was still warm outside.
It sounds as if the car was running and we tried to turn the key. I don't know if I am clear but it's a squeaky sound. So when that happens, I usually wait a few seconds, try again and then everything is fine. We checked the battery and it was still fine. It makes this strange sound once every 2 weeks. it can go even 3 weeks with no trouble.
Anyway, I took it back to the Toyota dealership and here is what they recommend:
Flywheel and starter malfunctioning: To be replaced
Cost: $1785 ( $830 for parts and the rest for labor). They charge $85/h for labor. This sounded outrages to me so I called a few mechanics in my area. The price went down to $1290 for labor & parts. One mechanic told me:” If the flywheel is malfunctioning, you would have a constant starting problem”. He said that it sounds like the starter is getting old ( by the way we still have the original starter)and that starters cause random trouble that becomes more and more frequent.
When I asked Toyota about the cause of the " malfunction" of the starter and flywheel, they said that it was caused by the fact that we have been turning the key even when the engine was on. I admit that this did happen to me maybe once or twice max when I first started driving 3 years ago. I was in a parking lot waiting for someone and the car was so silent that I thought that it was off. I definitely did not do this frequently.
Here are my questions:
-first of all, is it true that a flywheel problem shows constant symptoms?
-is it true that a flywheel replacement requires about 10 hours of work?
-is it true that starting the car once or twice while the engine is running ( 3 years ago) can cause this mess?
-Last but not least, is my dealership asking for a bit too much?
It's a bit scary to go to any mechanic. At least with the dealership I have peace of mind when it comes to the security but their prices are way too high!!!
Thank you

[dewaynep]

It is highly possible that both the starter and flywheel are bad. It is not likely that trying to start the car when it is already started once or twice would cause this. What has probably happened is the starter began to go bad and when it started to go bad it would no longer fully engage the flywheel. If it doesn't fully engage the flywheel you will hear the screeching that you here when you try to start a car that is already running. The starter malfunction has probably caused a few teeth on the flywheel ring gear to be broken or at least worn. The dealer and other mechanics you've seen just want to make sure if they fix this for you, you won't be back again next year for the exact same problem. If they had taken a few seconds to explain this to you you would probably had it fixed at the first place you took your car to. This is where I think Service managers and mechanics do themselves a disservice, they think people are too dumb to fully explain why extra parts need to be replaced when it seems like only the starter is bad.

[tom3]

Had this happen to a couple cars over the years. Replacing the starter will usually fix the problem for a good while, but it may come back in a couple years. New, fresh, gear teeth on the new/rebuilt starter seems to make the difference. That would cost way less than the flywheel and starter replacement. If the flywheel were missing a couple teeth altogether it would not engage at all. Sometimes these things just happen, but usually with higher mileage. Did you buy the car new? If not, that could explain some things.