Another starter replacement 06 Denali 5.3

[Dan_G]

I started this job on my 06 Denali. It regret it already. But I’ll try again tomorrow. I read this post:

how-to-envoy-5-3-starter-replacement

This is the one with the PhotoBucket pictures that are gone. I also watched some YouTube videos that covered this.
I believe the steps are a bit out of order.

Step 1 is to remove battery cable from battery. That’s fine.

Old Step 2 – “Remove the brace just behind the steering rack”

The bolts are out, the brace is loose. No way that brace is coming out. Not even close. I loosened the motor mount bolts and jacked the engine up a bit. The brace is still not out, but I can see there is more clearance. So jacking the motor up helps.

So I believe s 2 should be:

New Step 2 - Remove both nuts from passenger side motor mount.
New Step 3 – jack engine up until the studs from the motor mount are flush with the frame.

It’s not that easy to get those nuts off the motor mount. Space is very tight and you can only move the nut like 1/32 of a turn at a time. So it’s going to take a while.
I’ll get the nuts off tomorrow and get the engine up higher and see if that brace will come out. Then I can try to get the wires off and the starter out ... yay!

 

[Dan_G]

Well, that worked. The bolts finally came off the motor mount and I jacked the motor up as far as I could. The brace came out, just barely. It's going to be fun cramming that thing back in there. I did get the old starter out. This has go to be one of the worst starter layouts since the beginning of time. It's a 20 min job on the Suburban.

It probably took me an hour just to get the motor mount bolts out. The axle is in the way. I'm doing this in the driveway - no lift or anything - just the blazing sun to cook you as you work.

I had to use a box wrench. It might just be faster to separate the ball joint and take the axle out - then you could use a socket on the motor mount bolts.

So the old starter is out. Both wiring terminals broke out of the solenoid. The 8mm bolt simply stripped and would not come out so I broke that one out. This was probably the original starter - circa 2006 so I was not expecting the bolts to come off. So now I have to spend some time grinding or cutting or wrenching the terminals out of the wires so I can put the leads on the new starter .... Yay!

 

[Dan_G]

Went to Home Depot and got some cut off wheels for the Dremel. I cut off the broken solenoid terminals without damaging the terminal ends on the wires. A little patience and the job was done. So the next stage is getting the wires mounted to the terminals on the new starter and getting that bolted in.

Then I can put the brace back, let the motor down and reinstall the motor mount nuts. I'm done for the day, so that will be next weekend unless I get motivated during the week.

 

[C-ya]

This does not sound like fun. I hope I never get the pleasure of having to do this.

 

[Mooseman]

I think part of the reason it's difficult with a V8 is because these trucks were initially designed with the I6, which is easier to do the starter.

 

[Dan_G]

Finally had time to work on the Envoy. The starter is in. This was probably the worst job I have ever done. I have changed engines, transmissions, rear axles, intake manifolds .... over the last 40 years ... none are fun but this job sucked. I changed the engine in my kids Saturn Ion. It took less time and was far easier than this starter. If you want to try this – go ahead. Maybe you will get lucky. I didn’t. Everything went as hard as possible. I could not catch even one break – not one.

I’m pretty much done with this platform. It’s just too hard to work on. It’s not worth it. It is a convenient sized vehicle compared to a Suburban/Tahoe but that size reduction comes at great cost. No room to work. I certainly understand this is the tradeoff. I have heard old Corvettes are very hard to work on – for just this reason. I’m just at a point in my life where these tradeoffs make no sense. I don’t drive many miles per year so MPG means nothing. I just need a vehicle that I can maintain without going to a mechanic and an Envoy is not a good fit for me. The larger trucks have a bit more room so most jobs are easier. Once this thing is fixed, it's getting sold.

So, the starter went in. Attaching the wires is … difficult – to say the least. The worst part was jacking up the engine. I was forced to jack the engine up all the way as far as it could go. As you jack the engine up, the engine mount studs slowly move upward until they are flush with the holes in the frame. If you jack the engine up any further, then the studs clear the frame and when you lower the engine, the mount will probably not line up. In my case, I had to jack the engine as far as it could go. Like 3-4 inches and even then the cross member barely came out. These things don’t just come out, you have to have a pry bar and basically rip the things out.

The truck starts but the engine mount is now misaligned by a country mile. The engine mount studs are resting on the frame and the engine is up a few inches – the hood will not close. Lucky for me I don’t really need the truck. So I simply started the truck and moved it out of the driveway with the engine mount unbolted and parked it. It will sit there for a few weeks while I come up with a plan to move the engine.

A mechanic with a lift can of course deal with this. But in my case, I’m in the driveway. The truck is on jack stands. The sun is blazing and I just have no easy way to move that engine 2-4 inches diagonally to get the mount lined up. Maybe if I jack the engine up with a floor jack and aim the jack wheels just right and then use a scissor jack to jack the engine in the right direction (if I can find a safe place to jack the engine over).

Like I said, a mechanic can knock this job out. This is not worth doing on your own. But that defeats the whole reason for buying an older used truck – you need to be able to fix it or the numbers just make no sense. I would guess that this job would cost at least $800 in NJ … but that’s part of the deal if you drive an Envoy Denali. Bottom line, take the truck to a mechanic and sip some iced tea. Don’t do this job.