[djy5005]

I've seen some other minor threads on this topic, but no conclusive results as to the cause or what can be done barring replacement (see #1 below for my rationale why I won't go through that hassle). However, there also hasn't been any technical discussion that I've seen, so I figured I'd start a more technical thread to derive the actual cause, if any other than "it happens", "it's normal" or "it will do it and randomly die and make your day a really shitty one because they all do it".

There are times where I will start my car and it will turn over, but the starter motor doesn't disengage completely after the car is started for a short period of time (less than a second). Therefore, it makes a terrible grinding sound. I have had this issue with my TJ Wrangler with a sticky ignition tumbler, but obviously our cars don't have a normal key ignition, so I'm at a loss as to what is causing this.

To clarify, this is not a daily occurrence. It is a random occurrence, and it happens frequently enough to notice but not frequently enough to think that there is a significant issue somewhere. This also happens in warm weather as well as cold, and like I said, is consistently inconsistent and doesn't happen daily. Also, while it usually happens on cold starts (i.e. after the car has been sitting overnight), it does happen sometimes when the engine is already warmed up, although less frequently so.

I have a few theories in mind:
1) The starter motor is on it's way out, however i have 97k on it now, so I doubt it's "bad" as it's worked fine plenty of times since I purchased at 60k miles. I doubt a bad starter would last an extra 40k miles over 2 years with no increase in occurrences.

2) I haven't really paid attention to when I remove my foot from the clutch pedal after the motor turns over, but could it be that because I release the clutch pedal (even in neutral) that it could cause this? I highly doubt it, as it shouldn't affect the flywheel position and how the starter retracts. That is, unless maybe the throwout bearing went bad and there's some pieces that are stuck?

3) The flywheel ring gear is damaged; however, I would again doubt this as it doesn't happen often, maybe once a week, and it's not like the car doesn't turn over, it's just a delayed retraction. I would think a damaged flywheel ring gear would cause more problems than an occasional noise.

4) This is a long shot - but could a bad transmission mount cause this? I've also been noticing some small metallic rattling at times when I drive, and I think it might be either the drive shaft center support which either needs replacing/tightening, or the transmission mounts are going bad and causing an unwanted vibration somewhere which in turn is making a small rattling sound somewhere.

Those are the 4 things that I have in mind. I don't know if there's a "relearning" procedure that I can perform to reset a timing setting for the starter or anything like that, so I'm open to opinions.