Took my wife's 115k 02' PSD X in to Yipes for a Astrostart remote start system and long story short.... Picked it up ran a few erands parked it at home. Sat two days. Started it a couple times with remote and all seemed fine. Drove it for the second time to pick up my f350 PSD from same shop and shut the X off.
When I restarted it for her I heard just a split second chirp/grind like starter/flex plate but it started and I filed it away as I hope its nothing. Wife leaves and next stop she's at she calls me saying X won't start. For sure starter/ring gear. Plan on pulling starter in A.M. What bothers me is I hadn't had a single prob. prior to the remote start install. No grinding. Not even a chirp. Then all of a sudden one chirp and no body home. I've been in auto service for 17 + years and have seen cars go years w/ bad flex plate. It would grind once or twice till it bumped over enough to grab the next good tooth, but I prob. tried it a dozen diff. times plus what ever the wife did and nothing but grind. Wonder if newbie remote starter installer screwed up duiring install and had the thing trying to start while already running then figured it out after start ate some teeth and it was rushin rulet and the wife hit the unlucky spot. How can I prove it. Starter/flex plate has to be $900.00 on up for install.

 

Update with good news! Went to pull starter in store parking lot and found lower bolt missing and upper loose enough that the starter was flopping. Reinstalled replacing missing bolt and everything in life is good again. Was back at Yipes for alarm corrections also and told them the story after which a tech. brought the missing bolt to me that he found in the parking lot yesterday. Had oil still caked on head so a wrench had not been on it for a long long time. So moral to the story isCHECK YOU STARTER BOLTS on 100k plus PSD...