Loose starter bolt
 

So the wire that loops onto the bolt that you not down to the starter of mine is loose. Not sure if this is supposed to be loose or not but I am having issues starting the car. Took starter to advanced auto and the starter ran fine on the tester. They pointed out the wiggly bolt so I'm not sure if that is normal for our cars or not. Now I did remove/reinstall the starter the first time like 5 months ago when I dropped my transmission, so not sure if I messed it up in the process. So, is it supposed to be wiggly?

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.evo...d29c90744f.jpg

Yeah, that mounting stud for the solenoid electrical should not be loose. It was likely damaged during removal / installation, dropped on the ground etc

Thanks!

Yeah that certainly should be tight. When you put the ring terminal back onto it and tighten the nut does it tighten back up? I don't recall how that's encased in there, either the nut snugs it up or there is a "cage" around it holding it in and that has become damaged.

When the nut is on there tight, it doesnt move around(the bolt).

IIRC, that stud threads into a nut in the housing. You can just run it in till it bottoms out but shouldnt need to tighten it much. The nut when you tighten on the terminal should hold it all tight.

So sounds like a non issue. Just tighten the nut back up and if its tight then leave well enough alone; was probably just left loose by accident.

Everything seems fine and tight when all is put together. So maybe it isn't the starter acting up on me(well maybe). I'm not really electrical savvy but time to research the switch and relay and what not.

After tightening it back up are you still having issues? To me, unless I'm not understanding you correctly, the starter was hit or miss which easily could be the result of a loose connection. So if it's now tight it shouldn't be giving you issues.

After tightening it still isn't cranking over. I did notice probably a month prior when trying to start the car. When turning the key, it would take half a second longer for starter to turn the motor. Last week it wouldn't start. Had my battery checked and they said it was perfect. After tinkering around a little I couldnt get it to crank so I let it sit. Next morning with nothing changed I tried starting the car and it just started no problem. Then a week later which is today, same problem again.

Figured it out. It was due to ground terminal having too much corrosion on it. Not like the bubbly acid type, but had a tin white coat around the connector that you screw onto the negative ground terminal. After sand papering it some to have the bare metal exposed, it all worked fine.