Fun, fun, fun

I had set aside over 3 hours Wednesday to change out my radiator before work. I downloaded the instructions from Autozone and it looked simple enough...shouldn't take more than an hour and a half. However, I ran into some blockage when pulling the right fan from behind the radiator. I pushed on the obstruction and it moved easily...in fact it fell free from the bellhousing. My starter wasn't bolted in place! After checking things out I find the lower mount is broken and the upper has no bolt at all. I call the parts stores around here and no one has a listing for a starter bolt and the bone yard wont waste time looking for one. I tried various searches on the web but the only descriptions I ever found said the bolts were 15mm. But I did find out the upper bolt actually goes through the bell housing and screws into the starter instead of the of the other way around like the lower bolt. I went back out and determined where the bolt should be and there was one there but it was an 18mm and way too short to reach the starter. I can only conclude someone changed starters and either broke or lost the upper bolt and put the shorter one in to plug the hole. With only one bolt and in the bottom as it was there is no wonder the mounting broke.

I have no idea how long it has been loose like this but the break in the mounting wasn't fresh.

Anyhow I ended up pulling the bottom bolt and taking it in to a shop and finding a correct length one to fix the damn starter problem. I ended up missing work but the assholes were kind enough to make Saturday mandatory for me.