Wife's car, 2019 Suburban 4wd, standard 5.3L engine. Bought used in 2021-ish, 175k miles now. Getting ready to trade in so this is a mostly a thought exercise for a guy who hangs out on the Home Improvement board and just noticed after 15 years that there's an auto board

When starting, there is a slight grind after releasing the ignition that sounds like the standard you've-held-the-starter-too-long but about 1/4 the volume

Took it to dealer back when it was under powertrain warranty, and of course they said they couldn't replicate the sound. Wife convinced one empathetic, industrious young mechanic to do more than plug the code reader into it and he found a fault I don't remember and said the trans needed to be replaced. Unfortunately that was peak Covid stupidity so no swap happened.

Sound really only seems to happen when starting cold. Replaced the starter even though the Bendix gear didn't look dinged. Removed inspection panel, rotated flywheel all around and there is no noticeable damage to any teeth. Had wife start car over and over while I laid underneath trying to pinpoint sound. Held all heat shields, etc while she started in case it was just something flapping

What on earth is going on?

You've done more than most are willing to do themselves.

I've had starters make similar noises before, but it was with an aftermarket flexplate & noise was pretty consistent (not just at starting).

To get rid of my noise, I placed a washer (1x per bolt) between the block and the starter.

trade it in warmed up?

Weird dp

highpriorityag said:

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trade it in warmed up?

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Yeah this is 100% the answer now. Just exasperating that it's never had a obvious pattern and none of the usual solutions

I'm justt guessing, and don't know if what I'm suspecting even exists in your truck...

Timing chain(s) rattling on worn tensioner pads? If so, time to change tensioner pads and, posssibly, tensioners?

These would be in the engine and not transmission related.

Could be incorrect. Worth looking into.

Tango.Mike said:

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highpriorityag said:

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trade it in warmed up?

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Yeah this is 100% the answer now. Just exasperating that it's never had a obvious pattern and none of the usual solutions

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Sounds like you already know the solution. Get rid of it while you still can.

The title made my dirty mind chuckle. I had to replace the transmission on my wife's '18 burb. Hopefully it's just a starter issue but you may consider dumping. Next up is a/c, fuel regulator and suspension. That was my series of events that led to getting rid of the burb.

My 2019 Trail Boss had the wrong grade of transmission fluid from the factory. Apparently this was a big problem that Chevy will not acknowledge. Flush the transmission and use the correct fluid. Fixed my problem.

Nm