Symptoms: Clicking noise, "card in spokes" noise, rattling noise, while ONLY making right turns.
Cause: A faulty starter bendix will become loose with age and slide against the flywheel while the engine is on, causing the above symptoms.
Diagnosing: 1. Find a large open area such as a parking lot.
2. Drive straight ahead at about 10-15 MPH.
3. Shut the engine off and turn right.
4. No clicking while turning with the engine off indicates it
is the starter bendix.
Repair: Replace Starter
Affected Vehicles: All W-body vehicles with a 3.8L NA engine and 4T65E transmission. There may be more affected vehicles, but the car in reference had the above powertrain.
This problem can be confused with faulty CV joints or a bad transmission. It is about a $300 repair to have someone fix it, and about $150 to fix it yourself. It is not hard.
Please reply if you have anything to add. and please sticky. This information is not well known and people have rebuilt transmissions over this
