Cold start grinding noise from the starter.
No visible signs of damage inside so what do you guys think?
In my opinion the sound is from vibration in the bendix gear.

Thanks

 

Man that's a lot of effort to end up just replacing it as a unit. I'm not aware of replacement solenoids on offer for that starter motor (which is what's worn on yours, it fails to retract the starter gear fast enough to keep it from grinding against the flywheel)

 

Most remanufactured starters are low quality and they don’t tell which parts are new. Online shops will tell that the condition is NEW even when remanufactured and when I ask the customer service about the condition, I get AI answers from their fake support.

I don’t think the root course is the relay. Watch my video and tell what you think?

After washing and inspection, I can’t find any signs of wear or damage and I think that Honda/Denso has engineered the starter motor wrong and it need some spring on the shaft to push the starter pinion gear back and prevent this heavy vibration.

 

It just sounds like almost everyone else (me included) who've had this problem and it's the solenoid not retracting quick enough causing the grinding noise. It's worse in the winter when tolerances are closer.

I don't have anything against reman starters. I bought a Bosch reman maybe 6 years ago for like $180-ish, installation went very well and I've not had a repeat of that noise.

 

I cleaned and fixed every part inside, including the commutator. Lithium soap grease on every moving parts including the ring gear.
Mounted now and works perfect without grinding and at lot more power.
Only do this repair if it is your own car and you like the work. It is 20 hours because the unit is very hard to get to and you have to make some special tools for the connectors that you can't reach.