Starter is making a grinding noise against flywheel when....

Starter is making a grinding noise against flywheel when the starter is being turned over to start the engine. Also, it sounds like the starter is striking the flywheel and sometimes missing it as well. Does this starter require shims????

If so, where do I place the shims. I bought the truck from an individual and do not know the history of the truck. However, the starter does look new or newish...

I really appreciate any and all input or suggestions.

Truck runs great...but brakes are soft (gotta pump to stop)....and the starter grinding is a turn off.

1998 Mighty Max
2.0L
Automatic Tranny
No power stearing installed
has AC and Heat

oh...my bad....I said 1998......I meant to say it is a 1988 model. Sorry about the confussion LOL

Good news. I changed out the two rear wheel cylinders and that helped a lot. Also, I had to bleed the front brakes as well. However, I did noticed I need to put new front pads Now it is time for an oil change. Tranny had a leak. It was only a loose connection (that is resolved). I need to change the oil. I will more than likely put a quart of Lucus in it and 4 quarts of oil. I need to fix the starter issue. Really, any suggestions would be great

Got the oil changed. It was as black as outer space. Must have been where the truck sat for years. However, the Lucas and new oil made a big difference. I also picked up a used starter at a Salvage Yard - ($40 ). As my luck would have it, this used starter was doing the same thing. The guy at the yard told me if this starter does the same thing, then someone must have had the engine or tranny out or both and put the flywheel spacer or something in incorrectly because my starter should not require shimming. So he said I will have to either shimmer the starter or pull out the engine and make sure the flywheel stuff was installed correctly. Oh, how fun it is to buy used cars and trucks LOL. Needless to say, I shimmed my starter using 2 pennies and that helped a lot. It still grinds, but only at the end of its cranking cycle. Now, I have to take care of a windshield leak at the top on the driver side before i put in a new head liner.

You shouldn't need to shim it, something isn't put together exactly right. You don't need to pull the motor either, just drop the tranny to check out the flywheel/clutch/pressure plate.

It seems to be no passing gear kicking in. I need to check that out. Or see what causes the transmission to shift maybe electronic or something lol

Another thing, I need a new bench seat or new bucket seats. What are the best seats to put back into my Mighty Max from a Salvage Yard? What kind of seats would fit nicely into it. I hate the plastic seats the Mitsubishi comes with LOL.

i have a set a older cavalier buckets in mine.fit nicely.starter issue i have the prob. i notice if i turn the key slower it wont grind. odd but works.

Thanks for the tips on the seats. I found out that the truck has had this starter issue ever since the motor was overhauled 12 years ago. After the rebuild the orginal owner got upset with it....and sold it off for $200...and it went thru 2 other owners who never could get it to run....Until the last owner, I bought it from had it running. Still had this starter issue. I went ahead and did what everyone else said not to do....And shimmed the starter with 2 pennies. It has started like 500% better. I believe the orginal owner was just a shaded tree mechanic with limited skills. Engine runs great, but must have messed up something in front of the tranny like the order of stuff with the flywheel or something like one guy here already said. I tracked down the orginal owner and he said that motor has only like 3 or 4 thousand miles since his rebuild over 12yrs ago. That made me excited . Now i just got to install the correct carberator for this truck. Will be going to the the guy's house i bought it from today to put up the oringal carb. Then onto the salvage yard for the same type of carb. if no luck, then i am ebaying for the carb LOL

I think I have found out why it is not downshifting when passing someone or on pullouts...the passing gear cable was not hooked up. I am about to go and hook it up to the carb. Oh, and the carb the guy put on there is like really really cheap compared to the correct year of carb. I can see the wiring job if anyone wants to know it to use an 1986 cab on their mighty max ....Now to figure out the AC compressor thing.