Dear Tom and Ray:

My 1988 Nissan 200SX gave me quite a scare. I turned the ignition key and it sounded like the motor was already running. I sat there for a minute thinking I had left my car running. No, I had the keys with me. I turned the key again and it started immediately. This happened again about a week later to a mechanic when I had my car in the muffler shop. This was three weeks ago and it hasn't happened since. What could it be? Will this get worse, quit happening or should I get to a repair shop? -- Lea

Tom: Well, I have good news and bad news, Lea. The good news is that you're not losing your mind; you had not left your car running when you turned the key.

Ray: The bad news is that after you hear our diagnosis, you're going to WISH you had just left the car running.

Tom: You've got a bad ring gear on your flywheel, Lea. When you turn the key to start the car, a little gear on the starter meshes with a big gear (the ring gear) on the flywheel. And turning that flywheel is what starts the engine. The problem is that the gear on your flywheel has some broken teeth.

Ray: Has it been eating at my mother's house lately?

Tom: When you turn off the engine, and the flywheel happens to stop in just the wrong place (where the broken teeth are perfectly lined up with the starter gear), you get that horrible gnashing noise next time you turn the key. And if you're lucky, that gnashing is enough to move the flywheel a couple of degrees; just enough so on the next try, the starter hits some good teeth and the car starts right up.

Ray: But it's going to get slowly worse, Lea. If you don't mind the inconvenience, you can drive it like this for a while, but as time goes by, it's going to happen more and more often. And someday it won't start at all.

Tom: So if you've got $500 or $600 lying around with nothing to do, you might as well grit your teeth (ha, ha) and get a new flywheel. If not, you might see if your local bank has a "flywheel club" to help you start saving. Good luck.

Wait! Don't buy another car without the mechanic's checklist that's included in Tom and Ray's pamphlet "How to Buy a Great Used Car: Secrets Only Your Mechanic Knows." It will help you get a good used car and avoid the clunkers. To order, send (check or money order) to Ruin, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. You can also order online.

© 1997 by Tom and Ray Magliozzi and Doug Berman Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

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