Weird Miata starter issue

On the way home today, my MSM starter E36 M3 the bed. I upgraded the fuel injectors a week ago and have been working on restabilizing the Megasquirt idle tune, so I've been experiencing an occasional stall when clutching in to stop. It died today in traffic, but when I clutched in and hit the starter all I got was some whirring noise. Before it came to a complete stop, I put it in first gear and managed to roll start it. But as I was pulling away, I heard some clattering that sounded like a bad gear noise. Noise gets worse with revs, and occurs clutch in or out. Even when sitting still with the engine running. The car drove OK, so I pulled of into a lot, parked at the top of a hill, and tried the starter again. No joy. Starter spins but no engagement. I went to get something to eat and let the starter cool, hoping it might just be a stuck solenoid. Upon return, I tapped the starter with a wrench and tried again. Same problem. So I roll started it and once again heard an uneven clattering. My best guess is that the starter gear has fallen off into the bell housing. Or at least part of it has. After roll starting, I tried pulling forward some, but kept hearing moments of binding from the engine. So before something shot through the bell housing I shut it down and called AAA.

I've never experienced that kind of starter failure before. As I said, my best guess is that the starter gear broke in half. We'll see tomorrow. This might be an opportunity to install a new clutch and lightweight flywheel.

I realized overnight that the solenoid is probably stuck and the gear reduction unit is being reduced to small bits. Since it's bolted to the bell housing, it just sounds like the noise is coming from there.

Should I pay for the Mazda starter or are there cheaper alternatives that are just as good?

Dammit. The starter puked it's pinion roller bearings into the bell housing. I only recovered 4, and I'd guess it originally had at least 12.

Magnet on flexible shaft work? Or, did the flywheel ring gear grind them up against bell housing?

I couldn't get a flexible inspection camera beyond the throwout bearing, so I'm guessing a magnet is out. The roller bearings are less than 1/4" in diameter, so maybe I can get away with just backing out the transmission bolts, removing the front PPF bolts, and opening a small gap for debris to pour out.

Drill a hole in bottom of bell housing??? Have you inspected the ring gear for damage?

The ring gear teeth I can see look OK, but those bearings rattled around in there for a bit. I'm thinking the transmission needs to come off just to check for damage. The car is at 110k, so the clutch is past its prime. Of course, the bolt under the slave cylinder is really tight (soaking in PB Blaster now) and the top bolts are just a pain. I need another long extension and a better u-joint to get those. This sort of crawling around under a car isn't as easy as it was the last time I did a Miata tranny 15 years ago. Jack stands are a poor substitute for a lift.

JoeTR6 wrote: This sort of crawling around under a car isn't as easy as it was the last time I did a Miata tranny 15 years ago. Jack stands are a poor substitute for a lift.

I hear you. I did all the brake and clutch lines on a TR3 last winter using jack stands.

It looks like the transmission is coming out. I can't get at the bottom of the inner bell housing with anything. Also, the mounting bolt under the clutch slave stripped when coming out (thread on end of bolt seized up), so it needs a thread repair. All of the transmission bolts are loose, so I'm over 50% of the way to a clutch job anyway. This is assuming the PPF doesn't cause much grief. That may be a bad assumption.

Time for a FM stage 1 clutch happy meal.