First, I am no mechanic. I have a 2002 Dodge Stratus 2.7L and I'm pretty sure the starter is bad. My wife bought the car with 18,000 miles on it and we're almost to 200,000 miles. If this is just a minor fix it will be worth it...the rest of the car seems to be working pretty well.

Over the last couple weeks, the car hasn't been starting quite as well as it used to. I attributed it to the battery starting to go, even though the battery is only 2 years old (again, I'm no mechanic!). Then one day, nothing. I turn the key and get a few clicks. That's it.

So, I pulled and tested the battery. Battery tested fine. I found some diagnostic steps online that talked about turning the headlights on and then turning the key. When I do that, I get clicking and the headlights go dim. What I gathered from that is I probably have a faulty starter.

I found a few diagrams and such online (I have the Haynes manual on order from my local library, but it will take a few days to get here). Here are the steps I have taken so far:

- Removed Air Filter housing
- Removed three bolts that hold down the heat shield around the starter
- Removed the one top bolt that goes through the starter

Now I'm looking for the second bolt. Is it really behind the motor mount?!? I have no idea how to get to the second bolt. I saw one post that says you have to drop the transmission, another that said the guy did it in just a few minutes.

Here are my photos of the work: http://bit.ly/SCjbh9

My favorite is the graphic of the starter, where you might want to remove the Oxygen sensor...but it doesn't say anything about the massive, solid motor mount that's in your way.

Hopefully someone can tell me that it's easy and I'm misguided. Either that, or I'll just wait to receive my copy of Haynes from the library.

 

don't know if this will help here are directions for an '04 sedan if yours is a sedan should be almost the same
REMOVAL

1. Open Hood.
2. Disconnect the negative battery cable.
3. Raise vehicle and support.
4. Disconnect the electrical connector from the 02 sensor
5. Remove the 02 sensor from the exhaust manifold .
6. Remove the front mount through bolt.
7. Remove the front mount bracket from engine block.
8. Remove the battery cable from starter.

the lower starter bolt and remove starter.
INSTALLATION

1. Install starter to transmission.
2. Start the upper starter bolt.
3. Start the lower bolt and snug it so that the starter will not move.
4. Remove the upper bolt.
5. Connect the battery cable and torque nut to 8.5 Nm (75 in. lbs.).
6. Install the front mount bracket and check heat shield location.
7. Install bolt the upper bolt and torque bolt to 54 Nm (40 ft. lbs.)
8. Install the lower and torque bolt to 54 Nm (40 ft. lbs.)
9. Install the front mount through bolt and torque bolt to 61 Nm (45 ft.. lbs.)
10. Install the 02 sensor and torque to 27 Nm (20 ft. lbs.)
11. Lower vehicle.
12. Connect the negative battery cable.

 

Bill,
Thanks for the instructions. Here's my trouble:

I was able to find the upper bolt, you can see the screw driver going into the hole where I took the bolt out:



But it seems like the lower bolt is hidden behind the engine mounting bracket (unless I'm lost). This picture is kind of looking back toward the car, but it feels like the lower bolt is hiding under the mounting bracket:



In fact, the lower bolt head that you see in that photo looks like it aligns with the hold right next to the bolt head in this diagram:



This is the tail end of what seems like the lower bolt, as I can reach up to it from the bottom:

 

think you'll have to remove engine mount to get to that bolt,take out the thru bolt then unbolt from engine

 

How hard is it to remove the engine mount? Last thing I want is my engine laying on the ground!

Can I just drop the mount without doing major work?

 

I just stumbled across http://www.2carpros.com/questions/do...lace-a-starter

Is it really as simple as just removing the engine mount and the engine just hangs there?

 

Bill, your instructions look like they're going to work. I'll let you know.

 

The starter is in a box, ready to be checked out at the local NAPA.

So here's the view I was talking about, with the motor mount in the way:


Here are two of the bolts that you have to take off that secure the front engine mount, this is the view from below, looking back towards the rear of the car:


Here's the view from the top after the front engine has been slide away:


I ended up taking off the whole front engine mount by removing the three bolts from below that secure the mounting base. They are located just past the bumper, in the center of the frame.

And here are two shots of the starter in the box, all ready to go be checked out:




Thanks for your help Bill. Now the trick will be putting everything back together!

 

Great details!
Where do you put the jack stands to lift the vehicle?
In your picture above, you state, "after the front engine has been slide away". Do you mean just the engine mount?
Did you use a jack to support the engine and where?

Thanks
Mark

 

The jack stands are used to keep the vehicle up in the air. I used the adjustable hydraulic jack to lift the car up, and then I read enough safety concerns with working on a car that's just raised with an adjustable jack that I bought jack stands. They go behind the front tires, more or less the same place you position your jack.

And yes, fortunately you don't have to slide the whole engine Just the engine mount.

I did not support the engine. I removed the front mount and it seemed to be fine on the remaining mounts.

Daniel